Page 9 - Wrongly Convicted News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

A decade after an alleged suicide pact that killed his friend, Andrew Cowan's murder conviction has been tossed out by an appeals court.

Justice advocate David Milgaard, a man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent more than two decades in prison, has died.

Thomas Raynard James, now 55, was arrested in 1990 and convicted in 1991 for the first-degree murder. The case rested largely on the positive identification of James from one eyewitness.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary and Ballot Measure 110 Implementation met on Feb. 7. The committee heard public testimony on Senate Bill 1584, which would allow individuals to petition for compensation if they were convicted of and imprisoned for a felony that was later reversed, vacated, pardoned by the governor or subject to a retrial during which the person was found not guilty. Eligible petitioners would include young people who were in the custody of the Oregon Youth Authority for at least a year.

The state Corrections Department has changed course and paid an exonerated Montana man his $5,000 “transition assistance grant,” as he attempts to become the first person to gain state compensation for a wrongful conviction, under a new law.