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Alfred Dewayne Brown will finally be compensated up to nearly $2 million for his wrongful imprisonment, after spending 12 years behind bars and nearly a decade on Texas death row for a crime the courts have since determined he didn t commit. On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the state was wrong to deny him payment.
The ruling follows a lengthy fight over Brown’s innocence, a determination made by prosecutors and the trial court that Houston police and top state officials have rejected.
The top Texas court did not wade into the argument over Brown s innocence, but instead rejected the premise that the state s top accountant can make final decisions over who does and doesn t deserve wrongful imprisonment payment.