The Associated Press
LUSK, Wyo. — A Wyoming legislative committee is set to consider a proposal that would allow the state to compensate people who have served time in the state’s prison system but who are later cleared by DNA evidence.
The Joint Judiciary Committee is set to consider a bill that would allow pay to inmates who are exonerated by DNA evidence $75 a day for their confinement, up to a maximum of $300,000. The committee plans to meet Thursday in Lusk.
A district judge this spring ordered Andrew J. Johnson of Cheyenne freed from prison as a result of DNA testing after he had served 23 years on his conviction in a rape case. The judge has set a new trial date for Johnson for October but he has asked for charges to be dropped.