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Fla. House Votes To Pay Innocent Man $1.35 Million For Time In Prison
February 27, 2012
More than 30 years after going to a prison for a murder he did not commit, William Dillon sat in the Florida House gallery and got what he wanted – a form of apology.
“That’s the closure for me — that they’re admitting something wrong did happen,” Dillon said.
The House voted 107-5 to approve a claims bill that will pay $1.35 million to Dillon, or $50,000 for each of the 27 years he spent in prison after being wrongfully convicted in the 1981 killing of James Dvorak in Brevard County.
For procedural reasons, the bill will have to go to the Senate for a final vote. But with Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, making a priority of the issue, the House vote makes it appear virtually certain that Dillon will get compensated.
The proposal drew impassioned debate about Dillon and bigger-picture questions about the fairness of the Legislature’s claims-bill process. Despite those questions, Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said Dillon’s time in prison was an injustice that needed to be addressed.
“There’s no price-tag you can put on that,” Weatherford said. “There’s no dollar amount that will give this man his 27 years back.”
But Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne, listed details of Dillon’s background, including a drunken-driving conviction and an Army discharge because of possession of stolen property, and questioned whether the state should pay the man more than $1 million.
Along with Tobia, the other bill opponents were Rep. Daniel Davis, R-Jacksonville; Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach; Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton; and Rep. John Wood, R-Winter Haven.
Haridopolos tried to pass a claims bill last year for Dillon, but the issue died during a chaotic end to the legislative session. Veteran lobbyist Guy Spearman and former House member and Florida State University President Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte worked for free to help move the bill through the Legislature.
Dillon, now 52 and living in North Carolina, was freed from prison in 2008 after the Innocence Project of Florida got involved in his case. DNA testing on evidence led to his exoneration.
“It’s been a long journey,” he told reporters a few minutes after the vote.
Lawmakers on both sides of the Dillon issue expressed frustration Friday with the process that leads them to decide such issues. Earlier in the day, the House Judiciary Committee considered 16 claims bills that would compensate people for a wide range of injuries caused by employees of government agencies.
“We are not here to be judge and jury,” Wood said. “We are policymakers.”
But Rep. Steve Crisafulli, a Merritt Island Republican who sponsored the Dillon bill, said the case involved clear evidence that Dillon had been wrongfully imprisoned.
“This man is sitting here today, and we’re going to give him an opportunity to live the rest of his life like (the opportunity) he should have had from 1981 on,” Crisafulli said.
By The News Service of Florida
Comments
14 Responses to “Fla. House Votes To Pay Innocent Man $1.35 Million For Time In Prison”
REGARDING:
“He could have gotten some real crooked lawyers and beat the state of Florida like a drum.”
Actually, there’s nothing a crooked lawyer could have done due to sovereign immunity. They aren’t legally bound to do what is morally right — or even close to right. They chose to make up for a wrong done.
From http://floridahealthcarelaw.com/the-complexity-of-florida-medical-malpractice-law/sovereign-immunity/ :
“Sovereign immunity is an old English principle that dates back to the days when kings and queens ruled England. The principle holds that the monarchy is immune from criminal or civil prosecution. Stated simply it means you can’t sue the king. In America it means that the government is immune from suit, except to the extent it waives this immunity. In Florida the state has waived sovereign immunity to the extent that an injured individual may recover up to $100,000 for an individual, and potentially another $100,000 if there are dependants. Any amount above this must be sought through a Claims Bill – a special law that can be pursued for an individual that makes a recovery in excess of the above amounts. It is literally a law, complete with lobbyists, sponsors, committee votes, House and Senate passage, and eventually the Governor’s signature (or lack of votes and signature – it is at the government’s discretion).”
David for trying to avoid such errors in the future
There is absolutely no price anyone could pay me for being falsely imprisoned for 27 years. In that time, babies have been born and raised and some of them already have children (I’m talking big children not just infants or toddlers). At any rate, this is a small price to pay. He could have gotten some real crooked lawyers and beat the state of Florida like a drum.
First and foremost Hmm, Thank You for your service. I too served, from 1968 to 1996 and believe me, I did not average $50,000 a year even in my last year.
@ EJ:
You’re right, except for one or two tiny little details. The “average” soldier serves for less than 6 years. A soldier with 27 years of service receives somewhere between about $60,000 and $200,000 per year, and that’s just base pay. That doesn’t include hazardous duty pay, basic allowance for housing, basic allowance for sustenance, clothing allowances, etc., which can potentially add up to thousands upon thousands more. Add free medical, dental, and vision and 30 days of paid leave per year, and I’d say that, although your statement is true, it isn’t quite a fair comparison, financially speaking. I figured it up and, based on the federal minimum wage for each year during the actual years he was locked up and the numbers provided by David, he should actually get somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.3-2.4 million, just based on minimum wage income… I think the people are actually getting off light on this one! Granted, I am a disabled veteran who served 6 years and in 2 combat zones, so I have no desire to slight our nation’s defenders, but I joined voluntarily and knew the risks and what my income would be when I joined. I wasn’t wrongly convicted, stripped of almost all of my civil rights, and forced to serve 27 years without (much) pay…
Average Salary of Soldier DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN $38,000
David Hue Green you make too much sense! You hit the nail on the head again. Spot on man maybe some of these nay sayers will read your post and try to understand it. Some are looking at as if he hit the lotto but we both know better than that as you have pointed out the numbers.
I think there may even be a little envy by some whishing they had that kind of money. It would certainly be a different story if it was one of them I’m sure.
I wonder how many people would be big enough to sit thru listening to all that being presentd again after having had done to them what he had done. He had to be a big person to make the statement simply and only it has been a long journey. In other words he was done with it and ready to get on with life.
Just saying.
REGARDING:
“I think he should get the amount he was making prior to him being arrested. Add inflation and possible raises that he would have made during those 27 years. Add a little interest and he should be awarded that.”
Assume his time is completely taken up 24 hours per day. That is 168 hours per week. Under federal law, any time over 40 hours per week has to be paid at the rate of time and a half. (Remember, he couldn’t go home at the end of the day.) So that would require he be paid for 232 hours per week. 365.25 days per year is 52.18 weeks per year or 12,105.43 hours to be paid per year.
Divide $50,000/year by 12,105.43 hours/year yields an unadjusted pay rate of $4.13 per hour with no interest.
Now you could say he received food, clothing, shelter and medical care during that period of time, but none of it was of his choosing, so that doesn’t count against what was owed for his time.
It certainly looks like his reimbursement wasn’t excessive since it comes below minimum wage.
David considering the value of a life
in minimum terms
If the man did not do the crime then he was wrongfuly imprisoned by we the people. And most of all those who testified against him after swearing to tell te truth. Tt is obvious the system broke down and screwed up in this case. There is not any amount of money that can be paid for the wrong doing here. Think about you being in his position. This could be you very easy by some fluke. I do not think you can compensate for the humility and wrong doing here. There was a lot of wrong done from the people who arrested him to the jury who convicted him on circumstantual evidence. I can not lay it all on the jury. They acted on what was given them under the directions and giudelines of the court. Therefore, bringing the responsibility back to the court officials and law enforcement involved.
I for one put my trust in the system and would so hope that if I was done wrong the way this man was that the people who did this to me would correct it and pay for it. Life is short and too valuable to be loosing that kind of time out of it. I say let him go enjoy his life now and just maybe he will be able to live a decent lifestyle that is not in an 8×10 cell block.
Jim for justice and common sense.
Go watch this and then still tell me this man doesn’t deserve every penny of that money! If you think him going through all that because of a heck of a lot of screwed up evidence and lies should not be compensated and compensated WELL, you are severely screwed up.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091227/NEWS01/912270323/A-lifetime-lost-William-Dillon-s-27-year-fight-freedom
Just type his name into your search engine and start reading. Personally, I think the people who caused him to be convicted, including prosecutors, investigators, witnesses and the dog handler, should be forced to pay this man for the rest of his life. They stole his life. They destroyed him because they didn’t care about the truth. Yes, they should have to pay.
I think he should get the amount he was making prior to him being arrested. Add inflation and possible raises that he would have made during those 27 years. Add a little interest and he should be awarded that. I’m pretty sure back in 1981 he wasn’t working a job paying 50k a year. Anyway why was he wrongly arrested? Was their any proof he was around the crime scene which would make him a suspect? Like the lollipop commercial said ‘ The world will never know’.
Where you work and what you did with your life was/is your choice. This man
didn’t have that choice, the people decided he would spend his time
in a cell. I would never trade the 27 best years of my life for any amount money.
We screwed up and we have to pay.
No amount of money will give him those years back
27 years. $50,000. a year, what an obscene insult. I would imagine there are people looking over their shoulder and praying. They are all retired now, or dead.
WOW! They want to give a guy, who was already on a path to prison, $50,000 per year served. Thats insane. Does he deserve compensation? Yes he does, but not that much. I go to work every day and bust my tail; drive the speed limit; pay my taxes; follow the law of the land & I dont make near that amount.