With help from the Innocence Project Northwest and a judges order to do post-conviction DNA tests, Northrop and Davis were released in 2010 after tests showed DNA taken from the victim came from. Judicially Exonerated Released: Summary of Case: 'Larry W. Davis was co-defendant of Alan G. Larry Davis and Alan Northrop were wrongly convicted in 1993 after separate trials of burglary and raping and kidnapping a woman in La Center, Washington on January 11, 1993.
Alan Northrop spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
In 1993, a housekeeper in La Center, Clark County, was blindfolded and raped. She pointed out Northrop and Larry Davis in a lineup.
In 2010, the two men were cleared of all charges using DNA testing, which had not been widely available when they first were convicted.
Northrop was released, his record cleared, and he faced the prospect of getting to know his three children, now in their early 20s.
“I did 17 messed-up years in there,” Northrop recently said of his time in prison, noting that rapists are not looked upon favorably by inmates.
Upon his release, Northrop had to find a job to pay off 17 years’ worth of child support. While the state waived its portion of his bills, he still owed his children’s mother about $50,000. With a 17-year gap in his work history, a job was hard to come by.
He was lucky, he said, to have his brother to turn to, because the state left him to fend for himself.
Proposed legislation may change that. If it passes, House Bill 1341 will require the state to compensate wrongfully convicted inmates for every year they served in prison.
For the third time, Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, is sponsoring the bill that would entitle inmates later proved innocent to $50,000 for each year served, and an additional $50,000 for each year spent on death row. They also would receive $25,000 for each year spent on parole or as a registered sex offender.
“I’ve seen the impact it’s had on several men who were wrongfully incarcerated in the state,” Orwall said. “Not only do they suffer a loss of liberty while they’re confined, they suffer when they’re released.”
For the past two years, the bill failed because of concerns about where the state, which had to fill a $4.6 billion budget gap the first time the bill was proposed, would find the compensation money. With this year’s lower deficit, both Republicans and Democrats have signed on to the bill.
Wrongfully convicted prisoners can sue for compensation, but they must prove intentional misconduct by state officials. This bill would give men like Northrop a second option.
Northrop thinks he was convicted through a faulty investigation. When police sketches of the rapist went up in La Center, an anonymous tip pinpointed Northrop as the man in the sketches.
Police showed the housekeeper a series of photos, including Northrop’s, but she could not point out her attacker, Northrop said. Weeks later, she pointed him out of a lineup. He was the only suspect included in both the photo array and the lineup, he said.
With the help of the University of Washington branch of the Innocence Project, Northrop was able to get DNA samples from his trial tested. It did not match any of the suspects police had during their investigation.
Now 48, Northrop was exonerated and his record cleared. However, the effects of his imprisonment were harder to erase.
“Just trying to make a decision,” he said. “A simple decision. I’m not used to that. In there, you don’t have to worry about it.”
Before he was convicted, Northrop was a logger and owned his own excavation business on the side. He now makes $11 an hour at an auto-glass repair shop, a job he secured through a friend.
The Innocence Project, a nonprofit that helps indigent clients overturn wrongful convictions, estimates Northrop is one of no more than 10 people in the state now who would be able to file a claim to receive compensation under the proposed law.
The bill would align Washington’s compensation standards with federal law, which entitles wrongfully convicted inmates to up to $50,000 per year they served in federal prison and $100,000 for each year spent on death row.
“There’s widespread agreement on the principle that someone who is actually innocent but was convicted, that it’s appropriate to compensate that person,” said Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, the bill’s co-sponsor. He heads the House Judiciary Committee, which recently passed the bill 11-2.
“It’s all about the money now,” he added.
While Northrop says the compensation would help, he thinks the bill could go further. He would like the state to offer counseling services and a place to stay, similar to halfway houses for recently released prisoners.
“It’s so guys like me can get started over again,” he said.
Sarah Freishtat: 206-464-2373 or [email protected]
•••Thinkstock Images/Stockbyte/Getty Images
In a perfect world, only guilty people would serve time in prison. But because of false accusations, forced confessions or mistakes, many innocent people spend years in prison for a crime they did not commit. If a wrongfully convicted person is released, he has a chance to receive monetary compensation. How much someone receives -- or if he gets anything at all -- depends on the state in which he was convicted.
Wrongful Conviction Awards
In the United States 29 states as of 2013 award some form of monetary compensation to the wrongfully convicted. Florida pays $50,000 per year jailed with a maximum of $2 million. Missouri pays $50 per day of wrongful confinement. Texas is one of the most generous states -- it offers $80,000 per year of wrongful incarceration, plus $25,000 per year spent as a registered sex offender or on parole. Texas also supplies tuition for college, vocational training and help accessing medical services.
In a perfect world, only guilty people would serve time in prison. But because of false accusations, forced confessions or mistakes, many innocent people spend years in prison for a crime they did not commit. If a wrongfully convicted person is released, he has a chance to receive monetary compensation. How much someone receives -- or if he gets anything at all -- depends on the state in which he was convicted.
Compensation Issues
Twenty-one states do not have any kind of statute for wrongful-conviction compensation, and even in states that do offer monetary compensation for exonerated people, it's often difficult to claim the award. For example, in Missouri and Montana, only those who prove their innocence via DNA testing are eligible for an award. In West Virgina, New Jersey, California and the District of Columbia, the wrongfully incarcerated person must not have contributed to his own prosecution. People who falsely confessed or pleaded guilty in Mississippi or Iowa will not receive any compensation.
In a perfect world, only guilty people would serve time in prison. But because of false accusations, forced confessions or mistakes, many innocent people spend years in prison for a crime they did not commit. If a wrongfully convicted person is released, he has a chance to receive monetary compensation. How much someone receives -- or if he gets anything at all -- depends on the state in which he was convicted.
After Jail
Even if a wrongfully imprisoned person receives an award, he may have a hard time readjusting to society. Most states do not offer any sort of reintegration assistance for exonerated people. They tend to have trouble finding jobs, even though they were guilty of no crime. Upon release, they are given little to no help in securing affordable housing, medical care, counseling services, education, food or transportation. Some lose custody of their children and have trouble getting it back. Often, it takes an average of three years for an exonerated person to receive aid or compensation. Most states also tax this money.
In a perfect world, only guilty people would serve time in prison. But because of false accusations, forced confessions or mistakes, many innocent people spend years in prison for a crime they did not commit. If a wrongfully convicted person is released, he has a chance to receive monetary compensation. How much someone receives -- or if he gets anything at all -- depends on the state in which he was convicted.
Examples
Alan Northrop was arrested in 1993 for kidnapping and raping a housekeeper. The woman had been blindfolded for much of the attack, but a jury still sided with her claims that Northrop was the perpetrator. He sat in jail for years. In 2010, a DNA test proved that he was innocent. He was freed a few months later. Washington, the state in which he was jailed, gave him no monetary compensation. Northrop left jail with just $2,500 to his name. A man named Alejandro Dominguez received $9 million in 2006 -- he was jailed for four years in Illinois for a rape he didn't commit. He got the money because the victim had been pushed to identify him although he didn't match the attacker's description.
References
About the Author
Melissa King began writing in 2001. She spent three years writing for her local newspaper, 'The Colt,' writing editorials, news stories, product reviews and entertainment pieces. She is also the owner and operator of Howbert Freelance Writing. King holds an Associate of Arts in communications from Tarrant County College.
Photo Credits
- Thinkstock Images/Stockbyte/Getty Images