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When local governments have to pay for wrongful convictions

By "Persian Cowboy"

Scott Cobb of TMN mentions the 2003 case where the Austin City Council settled lawsuits for more than 14 million dollars in the cases of two men wrongfully convicted of murder. According to Cobb,If Texas city councils do not start considering the broken death penalty system a matter for local governments, then more and more local taxpayers in Texas will have to foot the bill for these type of lawsuits.In a similar case, Associated Press is reporting that the city of New Orleans might need to file for bankruptcy because it cannot afford to pay $15 million to a man who spent 18 years on death row before being exonerated.The district attorney, Leon Cannizzaro, has asked for state authority to file for bankruptcy over the jury award to the former inmate, John Thompson, who was convicted in 1985 of killing a hotel executive, Raymond Liuzza Jr...continue to full post

Full post as published by Texas Death Penalty Blog on January 12, 2009 (boomark / email).