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Exoneree Compensation Still Years Off in Washington

Posted: January 19, 2011 5:47 pm

Washington is one of 23 states without a law compensating the exonerated. If passed, the proposed bill would resemble the federal standard for such laws – including $50,000 for each year behind bars, plus an additional $50,000 for each year served on death row. Orwall’s bill also includes $25,000 for each year the exoneree was registered as a sex offender or was under community supervision. The legislation would also guarantee free tuition at state schools for the wrongfully convicted and their children and provide healthcare and pay child support claims accrued during incarceration.

With his child support topping more than $100,000, Northrop can’t afford to wait until 2014. Even with the state Department of Social and Health Services waiving its share of Northrop’s balance as part of its program for forgiving child support bills in hardship cases, Northrop still owes tens of thousands of dollars he was unable to earn due to the wrongful conviction.

Meanwhile, Northrop is struggling to save up enough money for a car so he can keep his $12-an-hour job at a metal fabrication shop in Vancouver. He lives in Ridgefield with his girlfriend, a former classmate with whom he became re-aquainted last spring.

"They owe us - somebody does," he says. "I'm struggling right now. I need every penny."