As the last act of its leg­isla­tive ses­sion, the Florida Senate passed a bill allow­ing the state to com­pen­sate James Richardson, who had been wrong­ful­ly sen­tenced to death and incar­cer­at­ed for 21 years. In 1967, Richardson, who is black, was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death by an all-white jury for the mur­der of his sev­en chil­dren. Many years lat­er, a for­mer babysit­ter con­fessed to the crime, prompt­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion that revealed that wit­ness­es had been beat­en to con­vince them to false­ly tes­ti­fy against Richardson. In 1989, Richardson’s con­vic­tion was thrown out and he was released. Richardson, now a frail old man, had not been able to receive com­pen­sa­tion for this injus­tice because the evi­dence from his case had been lost or destroyed. Now he will be able to apply for com­pen­sa­tion based on the spe­cial pros­e­cu­tor’s inves­ti­ga­tion and the order to release him from prison. Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a spon­sor of the bill, said ​“This will allow him to have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to revis­it some dreams that were deferred ear­ly in his very young life.” Robert Barrar, an attor­ney who has rep­re­sent­ed Richardson, said, ​“The Legislature did the right thing. To right an injus­tice for all those years that were tak­en away from him.”

(I. Cummings, ​“Richardson com­pen­sa­tion bill pass­es,” Herald-Tribune, May 2, 2014). See Innocence and Recent Legislation.

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