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State Pays Off Man Wrongfully Imprisoned $100 For Every Day He Spent Behind Bars, Totaling $162,700
Photo by FredoAlvarez via Flickr
Robert Cuevas is $162,700 wealthier now, however, he came into that money by spending 1,627 days behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. Last week, California's Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board approved the award in a "rare move," reports CBS2, making it just one of only 16 claims out of 116 filed since 1984 the agency has approved.Calculating a rate of $100 per day for each day Cuevas spent in jail, the payout is the result of a wrongful imprisonment.
"Cuevas was charged with robbery and a firearms enhancement in December 2003 in connection with an incident at a Rite Aid store at 1637 Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, seven months earlier," says his attorney. The three suspects made it out of the store, and ultimately Cuevas was mis-identified by Rite Aid security guards, who thought Cuevas was the man holding the gun in the commission of the crime.
Viewing the tape from the crime using advanced technology, detectives confirmed the man was not Cuevas. He had been sentenced to 12 years in prison, and was released in September 2008.
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