A Michigan man who has spent the last 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit is now free after the judge tosses out the convictions.

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Wrongful Convictions

It has to be just the worst to have not committed a crime, get accused of it, and then get wrongfully convicted and spend several years in prison. Not to mention prison is a terrible place in itself and all the atrocities a person would have to deal with in one year, let alone several years behind bars. Still, wrongful convictions happen in a system that is not perfect.

If You Get Wrongfully Convicted Do You Get Compensated in Michigan?

Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash
Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash
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If a person in Michigan gets wrongfully convicted and is released from prison, do they have to sue or does the state compensate them? The answer is both. In 2016 the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act was created that states a person who is wrongfully convicted in Michigan, are to be paid $50,000 for each year spent behind bars but that is not a guarantee. In order to get the money, the person who did the time has to sue the state in the Court of Claims, where a judge determines if they meet the qualifications for compensation.

Michigan Man Freed After 25 Years in Prison When Conviction Gets Thrown Out

Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash
Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash
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According to WOOD, 54-year-old Anthony Kyles has spent 25 years in the Carson City Correctional Facility is now free after a judge overturned his murder convictions.

Ngampol Thongsai/GettyStock/ThinkStock
Ngampol Thongsai/GettyStock/ThinkStock
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Kyles was accused of setting a house on fire but tossing a Molotov cocktail at the home. A fire ensued that wound up killing a father and his three children.

The star witness that led to putting Kyles away recanted his story and admitted to lying to the jury.

A Terrible Way to Become a Millionaire

Evgen_Prozhyrko/GettyStock/ThinkStock
Evgen_Prozhyrko/GettyStock/ThinkStock
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Now that Kyles is a free man and the state looks at him as a wrongfully convicted man. If he sues the state in the Court of Claims and wins, he is entitled to $1,250,000. What a terrible way to become a millionaire.

Old Jackson State Prison, Early 1900s

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