Senator Ramon Gonzalez Jr. of Perry, Kansas, has submitted a new bill aimed at compensating those who were wrongfully convicted of committing crimes. The proposed law was drafted based on what Floyd Bledsoe went through after being convicted of murder.
According to the State Senator, he drafted the bill to assist those who went through, or will go through, the same experience as Bledsoe. He spent 16 years in jail after an investigation named him as the primary suspect in the murder of Camille Arfmann in 2009, LJWorld.com reported.
Bledsoe was freed on Dec. 8, 2015, after a Jefferson County judge ruled that he is innocent. Gonzalez, who is also a prosecutor for the Jefferson County Sherriff's Office and a police chief in Perry testified during the hearing. Gonzalez noted that he was not able to find strong evidence to link Bledsoe to the murder.
If passed, the law will be the first of its kind in Kansas. Outside the state, 30 other regions and the federal government provide financial compensation for innocent individuals who were sent to prison due to wrongful convictions, KSNT has learned.
However, details of the bill will still be ironed out by the Senate Committee. This includes the exact amount or the monetary value that will be awarded to selected individuals.
The value could be close to what the government offers, which, in 2004, was $50,000 for each year spent inside a detention facility. On top of this is another $50,000 for each year on death row.
The state of Texas, on the other hand, gives out $80,000 per year in prison. Aside from this, those who have been exonerated also receive annual payments of $40,000 to $50,000 for the rest of their lives, according to CJOnline.
A hearing for the bill, however, hasn't been scheduled yet. But John Rubin, the Corrections Committee Chairman Representative, said that he plans to oversee the hearings if the bill filed by Gonzalez remains in his committee.
