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Let’s hope he sues them for a few million dollars.

thombat 4y ago
Florida pays the wrongfully imprisoned $50k per year - but only if they have no other felony convictions. And Thomas James has one for possession of marijuana in 1989, so by Florida law he's entitled to no compensation at all. Parts of the justice system in the USA are quite unforgiving, which feels at odds with a professedly Christian nation.
- plutonorm 4y ago
  ha, christianity is nothing but a way of social signalling purity. So they can get away with being nasty brutish selfish beings. The world suddenly makes sense if you consider that the majority of people are complete asshats who would kill you for a sandwich and never think on it again -as long as they can get away with it.
- spoonjim 4y ago
  LOL “Christian nation.” I don’t even think the Evangelicals actually believe this. It’s just a set of coded language they use to gain power, like people quoting their favorite movie.
- moralestapia 4y ago
  >which feels at odds with a professedly Christian nation I observe and respect the Christian heritage and traditions. Having said that, and from my own experience, the most vile, hypocrite and ill-intentioned people I've met, happen to portray an image of justice and purity based on (their purported) Christian values. I believe it's some sort of mimicry they develop on purpose, to balance out the negative image deserving of their real self. They're also quite easy to spot, though. Most Christians keep what they do, good or bad, to themselves, while these guys preach it out in a way that comes off as unnatural. Anyway, these kind of scumbags, when at the right place/time, could do irreparable damage to other people's lives and then go on with their business and completely forget about it, so be careful when you encounter one, best advice is to just steer away from them. (Thomas couldn't, in this case, and that's part of the tragedy).
  - mjevans 4y ago
    Anyone that flaunts morality (of themselves or others) or loudly decries 'immorality' at most charitable probably hasn't thought things out well, most likely is lying to themselves (though they often don't realize it), and at worst their basis for morality is based on fears of things they might themselves want. There are also the more obvious examples of people that pander to get some perceived benefit, most are happy to believe 'the other party does this'. It's really sad that it is a rare gem of a politician who really believes in everything they say.
  - BrandoElFollito 4y ago
    I do not think this is Christianity specifically, I think this is how religion stays whole. They have to have absolute rules otherwise people would leave them and stop to obey out of fear. When you have some oppressing others, this is always in the name of something great and beyond mere mortals. Never because "I said so" (even if of course this is usually the case)
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  > professedly Christian nation There is nothing in federal or state legal documents that mention Christianity. God? Yes. Traceable to Judeo-Christian values? Yes. Christianity explicitly mentioned. No.
- kingcharles 4y ago
  Wow, $50K / year is high. Illinois I think tops out at a max of $140K total, and that only kicks in at something like a decade locked up. Bear in mind those figures are statutorily-mandated money that you get by law. You can also sue on top of that. The issue is that it's often impossible to sue for decades behind bars. All sorts of things stop you, such as statutes of limitation, qualified immunity from prosecution etc.
at_a_remove 4y ago
I have often wondered what a default payout ought to be, given that 1) these things happen and 2) we'd like to disincentiveize them. First, I think there's a base, flat fee even if you're in just one day. Next, some kind of pro-rated per annum amount, based on some multiple of the median income in that state. Additional amounts for, I don't know, each day in solitary, whatever documented medical issues arise (it isn't like we can get anyone to write down prison beatings), and so on. A separate account is created to pay lawyers whose sole job is to scrub the erroneous conviction, from each and every place it exists. I imagine a group to do this. Another account is created to pay for therapists, pretty much "for life." I also think something needs to be set aside for assessment of the person's skills and guidance for retraining, five years of college, whatever. Room and board for, well, I don't know how many years. Your car got repo'd? Yeah, that's a new car for you. Essentially, the reasonable and fair thing to do would be do whatever is possible to re-integrate people and make them as whole as is possible: financially, psychically, materially, and so on.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  In this case I think the state owes him a comfortable retirement. They took the entirety of his prime earning years and released him just in time to retire. So cough up a nice pension and make sure he's got a comfortable place to live and access to whatever social workers and psychological help it takes to reintegrate him into society. And a great big public apology, if he's okay with it, admitting that the fact he was sent to prison for life based on nothing but a single eyewitness is an obvious miscarriage of justice.
  - srazzaque 4y ago
    > And a great big public apology Yes agreed, at a minimum. Perhaps we can/should go further. In cases like these, I wonder how the incentive structure may change if it became mandatory for all involved crooked prosecutors and inept judges to personally apologise, be temporarily stripped of their professional credentials, and perhaps serve some time in jail as retribution.
anm89 4y ago
A few million? There are programmers making that in a year at google. I'd add a zero.

Florida pays the wrongfully imprisoned $50k per year - but only if they have no other felony convictions. And Thomas James has one for possession of marijuana in 1989, so by Florida law he's entitled to no compensation at all. Parts of the justice system in the USA are quite unforgiving, which feels at odds with a professedly Christian nation.

plutonorm 4y ago
ha, christianity is nothing but a way of social signalling purity. So they can get away with being nasty brutish selfish beings. The world suddenly makes sense if you consider that the majority of people are complete asshats who would kill you for a sandwich and never think on it again -as long as they can get away with it.
spoonjim 4y ago
LOL “Christian nation.” I don’t even think the Evangelicals actually believe this. It’s just a set of coded language they use to gain power, like people quoting their favorite movie.
moralestapia 4y ago
>which feels at odds with a professedly Christian nation I observe and respect the Christian heritage and traditions. Having said that, and from my own experience, the most vile, hypocrite and ill-intentioned people I've met, happen to portray an image of justice and purity based on (their purported) Christian values. I believe it's some sort of mimicry they develop on purpose, to balance out the negative image deserving of their real self. They're also quite easy to spot, though. Most Christians keep what they do, good or bad, to themselves, while these guys preach it out in a way that comes off as unnatural. Anyway, these kind of scumbags, when at the right place/time, could do irreparable damage to other people's lives and then go on with their business and completely forget about it, so be careful when you encounter one, best advice is to just steer away from them. (Thomas couldn't, in this case, and that's part of the tragedy).
- mjevans 4y ago
  Anyone that flaunts morality (of themselves or others) or loudly decries 'immorality' at most charitable probably hasn't thought things out well, most likely is lying to themselves (though they often don't realize it), and at worst their basis for morality is based on fears of things they might themselves want. There are also the more obvious examples of people that pander to get some perceived benefit, most are happy to believe 'the other party does this'. It's really sad that it is a rare gem of a politician who really believes in everything they say.
- BrandoElFollito 4y ago
  I do not think this is Christianity specifically, I think this is how religion stays whole. They have to have absolute rules otherwise people would leave them and stop to obey out of fear. When you have some oppressing others, this is always in the name of something great and beyond mere mortals. Never because "I said so" (even if of course this is usually the case)
TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
> professedly Christian nation There is nothing in federal or state legal documents that mention Christianity. God? Yes. Traceable to Judeo-Christian values? Yes. Christianity explicitly mentioned. No.
kingcharles 4y ago
Wow, $50K / year is high. Illinois I think tops out at a max of $140K total, and that only kicks in at something like a decade locked up. Bear in mind those figures are statutorily-mandated money that you get by law. You can also sue on top of that. The issue is that it's often impossible to sue for decades behind bars. All sorts of things stop you, such as statutes of limitation, qualified immunity from prosecution etc.

at_a_remove 4y ago

I have often wondered what a default payout ought to be, given that 1) these things happen and 2) we'd like to disincentiveize them. First, I think there's a base, flat fee even if you're in just one day. Next, some kind of pro-rated per annum amount, based on some multiple of the median income in that state. Additional amounts for, I don't know, each day in solitary, whatever documented medical issues arise (it isn't like we can get anyone to write down prison beatings), and so on. A separate account is created to pay lawyers whose sole job is to scrub the erroneous conviction, from each and every place it exists. I imagine a group to do this. Another account is created to pay for therapists, pretty much "for life." I also think something needs to be set aside for assessment of the person's skills and guidance for retraining, five years of college, whatever. Room and board for, well, I don't know how many years. Your car got repo'd? Yeah, that's a new car for you. Essentially, the reasonable and fair thing to do would be do whatever is possible to re-integrate people and make them as whole as is possible: financially, psychically, materially, and so on.

rootusrootus 4y ago
In this case I think the state owes him a comfortable retirement. They took the entirety of his prime earning years and released him just in time to retire. So cough up a nice pension and make sure he's got a comfortable place to live and access to whatever social workers and psychological help it takes to reintegrate him into society. And a great big public apology, if he's okay with it, admitting that the fact he was sent to prison for life based on nothing but a single eyewitness is an obvious miscarriage of justice.
- srazzaque 4y ago
  > And a great big public apology Yes agreed, at a minimum. Perhaps we can/should go further. In cases like these, I wonder how the incentive structure may change if it became mandatory for all involved crooked prosecutors and inept judges to personally apologise, be temporarily stripped of their professional credentials, and perhaps serve some time in jail as retribution.

anm89 4y ago

A few million? There are programmers making that in a year at google. I'd add a zero.