Michigan to pay $1.75 million to man who spent 35 years behind bars for crime he didn't do

The state of Michigan is set to pay an innocent man $1.75 million after spending 35 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Louis Wright was wrongly convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in 1988, according to the Associated Press.

The deal was approved by a judge on Wednesday. Wright said he would use the money to purchase a house and vehicle.

Those who are exonerated based on new evidence qualify to receive $50,000 for each year spent in a Michigan prison. The report noted that the attorney general's office often tries to get out of paying the tab, but Wright was immediately compensated for the inaccurate conviction.

Wolf Mueller, Wright's attorney, said "[n]othing can make up for 35 years in a Michigan prison for something he did not do. This is a first step toward getting Louis' life back at the age of 65."

The Albion authorities who landed on Wright as the suspect in the case leaned on the testimony of an off-duty officer who claimed he was spotted in the neighborhood. The Cooley Law School Innocence Project said the authorities later claimed Wright had confessed to the crime even though there was no recorded evidence or signed confession.

Additionally, the victim was never asked to identify Wright. Wright ultimately pleaded no contest to the charges and was subsequently sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. When he tried to withdraw his plea during the sentencing, it was denied, per the report.

Wright became eligible for parole in 2008. To be released, he was required to take a sex offender therapy class — something he refused to do. He remained in prison until new developments in DNA cleared him of the crime.

“He said, ‘I didn’t do this crime. I'm not taking a therapy class.' He cost himself several years, just standing on principle," Mueller said. “Not a lot of guys would do that.”

When the authorities swabbed Wright's mouth last summer for DNA testing, he reportedly knew he would be cleared. “I spent the last couple of months in prison with a smile on my face. Everyone thought I had something up my sleeve,” he said.

Mueller has now filed a lawsuit against the police, seeking more than $100 million. The lawsuit claims that Wright's rights were violated during the investigation in 1988.

The Cooley Law School Innocence Project reported: "The recent DNA testing established that a man other than Wright is the perpetrator. The Calhoun County Prosecutor has committed to reopening the investigation and determining the identity of the true perpetrator."

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