Joe Amrine was not eligible for compensation from the state of Missouri, even though he was exonerated after spending more than a decade on death row for a murder he didn't commit.
When released from prison in 2003, "I had $13 and something cents ... that was my worldly possessions," Amrine told KCUR's Up To Date.
In Missouri, only exonerees whose innocence is proved through DNA evidence are eligible for compensation.
State Sen. Steven Roberts, a St. Louis Democrat, has proposed legislation to expand eligibility for compensation, allowing exonerees to be awarded up to $65,000 per fiscal year for wrongful imprisonment.
"We'll never be able to put a person back and make up everything they've missed out on, from raising their children, building career, securing financial stability," Roberts said. "When they're finally released, they're left with nothing. And so this is a small attempt to try to right that wrong."
- Missouri state Sen. Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis
- Joe Amrine, Missouri death row exoneree
