Judiciary committee endorses payments to help prisoners who were exonerated

Described as an important step to help those wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit, a bill that would provide money to help such people get back on their feet was endorsed unanimously by a group of lawmakers Wednesday.

The Judiciary Interim Committee endorsed the Exoneration and Innocence Assistance draft bill after hearing testimony from a former Rhode Island police officer who spent more than six years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

In 1996, Scott Hornoff was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a woman he was having an affair with. But over six years later, another man came forward to confess to the murder. Although eventually released, Hornoff said he was left without a house or a car and his career as an officer was ruined.

Hornoff now travels the country telling his story to state lawmakers.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, said Utah needs to join 21 other states, and the federal government, that have passed laws affording exonerees money to help them put their lives back together.

The federal government affords $50,000 a year for each year spent in federal prison plus an additional $50,000 a year for those who serve time on death row.

The Utah bill would grant exonerees the average income in Utah for each year up to 15 years. Currently that average is about $35,000. The money would be paid out over the number of years served in prison.

Lawmakers questioned whether the money given to such people shouldn't match their previous income. Some said if a person once made $75,000 then perhaps that should be awarded. Assistant Utah Attorney General Creighton Horton said the bill was drafted to strike a balance between helping people and keeping a cap on the amount of money the state gives out. Bell said the bill is not intended to make people whole, but rather is a gesture of good will by the state.

Horton said the bill would establish an avenue in place of the current one: If someone is exonerated, there is little choice but to sue the state, which rarely is successful.

Bell stressed the bill would only help those who have been judicially ruled innocent by the facts.

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