Will Tim Masters Ever Be Compensated?

The state of Florida recently owned up to wrongly imprisoning Alan Crotzer for crimes he did not commit. The Legislature there has approved a $1.25 million dollar settlement to make up for the 24 years Mr. Crotzer spent in prison for a double rape that DNA evidence proved he didn't commit. The innocent shouldn't have to rely on the generosity or outrage of others to be compensated.

Ft. Collins: More than two months after a judge ordered Timothy Masters freed from a life conviction for the murder of Peggy Hettrick, there's little movement to compensate him for what many see as nearly 10 years of wrongful imprisonment.

Masters was freed Jan. 22 after a special judge agreed that new DNA evidence pointed toward another suspect who police originally cleared.

Masters spent nearly a decade in state prison after a jury convicted him in 1999 for Hettrick's fatal stabbing and mutilation. Many other states have programs to financially compensate the wrongfully convicted.

"I don't know if it can be done in this legislative session," Fort Collins Sen. Bob Bacon said. "Whenever we try to extract money from the budget, it does take a certain amount of time and persuasion to eke some out."

The Coloradoan