Luvlyquants
9792
543
4
https://www.knowyourrightscamp.org/post/after-21-years-wrongfully-imprisoned-ralph-blaine-smith-awarded-1-3-million-as-long-overdue-justic
Jul 15, 2026 3:12 AM
Luvlyquants
9792
543
4
https://www.knowyourrightscamp.org/post/after-21-years-wrongfully-imprisoned-ralph-blaine-smith-awarded-1-3-million-as-long-overdue-justic
vampirelibrarian
Uhhh he should get 100x that much
FiddlerInSnow
Even more reasons not to visit the land of the free.
svga
this is why I don't like the death penalty as much as I hate rapists and murderers
GloveFullaVaseline
I mean, I have 2 kids I love, AND an amazing life partner... And I would rather die than to have to put any of them through this. Let me die, you can remember me.
Hatsodoom
Not enough, will never be enough. Money doesn't buy back time.
HolyFreakingToast
how do you not go insane. 1 million is a joke
arewenotkingsandqueenstogether
Damn. Hope he buys a house by a lake and just enjoys the rest of his life.
Eddyrock
Dear god!
Rink257
"No amount of money ever bought a second of time"
-Howard Stark
This dude deserved better, but im glad he is free now.
IJustWantToMakeAComment
This is horrific.
I also just want to remind everyone that this could happen to anyone! This could be you!
The cops are some of the dumbest people in this country and they somehow are “the authorities”. They could so easily point their fingers at you and feel so confident, in a way only an idiot can, that you should be in jail
TheFastpaws
What a joke! The people who did it need to be behind bars and he should be given far more money! He lost 21 fucking years!
Stefnos87
about 7,06$/hour.... for those wondering
Munchman347
As long as Prosecutors are allowed to run for political office, these 'notch in my belt' convictions will continue. It's also why Prosecutors refuse to allow exculpory evidence to be introduced after they get a 'gold star' conviction...
Dolenmorgul
Where is this money coming from?
moldavia801
That prosecutor that withheld evidence needs to face charges. No more immunity
Kazpur81S
Should be 31 million
vilito55
At cost of Finnish largest payout, from case like this. He would get $7, million and we would need to take inflation to count, so maybe $10-15 million would be close.
HeywouldJablowme
Oh they owe him a lot more than that.
MrNobodyLivesHere
And the president will never spend a minute in prison for his crimes.
Justic for all but not equal.
mardukkur
Remember if you ever serve on a jury that you are the last line of defense against this kind of bullshit, and if the state is trying to take away somebody's freedom you need to make sure they prove their case to you beyond reasonable doubt. The prosecutor's misconduct is not the only failure here. The jurors did not take their duties seriously enough given the consequences.
PutItInNeutral
Not nearly enough of a payout for this miscarriage of justice.
justadude41123
Pfft, there are thousands being wrongfully imprisoned right now every day and are likely not even gonna survive the ordeal to even collect.
iusedtodream
That's the master plan.
TheDildoOfConsequences
To be fair, they do make a fuckton of money for the shareholders of the companies building and running the prisons, so the benefit to GDP is sure to trickle down to the masses over time. So really it's in the incarcerated people's own interests.
(I'll be damned if I have to put a /s on this.)
BrdCdn
Or the poor ones that ICE just kills in the streets. America is a joke. Land of the slaves, home of the cowards.
CelestialSea
Over-prosecute to fill for-profit prisons, get kickbacks. Even when the system occasionally self-corrects and frees the innocent, guess who pays out? Not the prisons, judges or prosecutors! That's right! It's the Taxpayers, the people who pay those judges, prison companies, and prosecutors!
3ifish
How much of that does he get to keep?
southflhitnrun
This means nothing unless the people who put him there have to take his place in jail. I'm glad he got something, tho.
lonelyrangerofthedreams
Perfect example of “everyone lost”
ThatOtherGirlYouKnow
Thst better be a million a year because no way should it be a payout this low.
thatunpleasantfeeling
Apparently it was a false accusation by someone who framed him and served as the witness in the case against him. There was not only no evidence against him besides the 'witness', the evidence was questionable that it even happened. Like, somehow there was an armed burglary by multiple people, but no tracks in the snow. Then the police/prosecution kept that there were no tracks in the snow from the DA, so they didn't even KNOW that piece of contradiction.
TheLastSpaceman
Bruh, he got 62k/year for being robbed 21 years of his life!
powerrangerpl
The fucked him a second time.
AtmaDarkwolf
Ya idk if this was supplied as a feel-good story, but that is somekinda shit. And not just 'robbed' of 21 years, but placed in a near-hell level experience the whole time. Seems they got a huge discount on this guys time lost.
PanNonOpticon
Less than that if you calculate the compound interest.
Grimmrog
At least thats tax free right? But all in all, really fucked up.
Burke616
I'm not sure it is tax free--judgments like that might count as taxable income.
AShartInTheWind
It's hard to tell, I'm not sure what kind of injury false imprisonment would entail. This is from the IRS website.
Scahrossar
Not even. His lawyer takes a cut too. " Split with his lawyer" as the dispatch puts it.
heyletsbefriends
thats 62k/year after taxes and living expenses (assuming it doesnt get taxed)
Zange0
And assuming he doesn't get charged living expenses. In Ohio is a 'pay-to-stay' state, they can charge you for your own imprisonment.
heyletsbefriends
pay for your forced stay? what happens if they dont pay? are they forced to stay longer?
AShartInTheWind
Probably. This country is a hell hole that needs to be destroyed.
Coltaine
I make more than that as a HD mechanic, surely that's way low for being wrongfully incarcerated.
TanithRosenbaum
not just that, you make more than that for less than a quarter of the time, assuming you work the standard 40 hours per week. He "worked" 168 hours (7x24) per week ....
RichardPenne
Being without family and freedom - not worth it.
zufallszahlen
You haven't met my family.
madmax17
Touche sir.
usingYourMomAsAHat
azazyel
ElbowDeepInLeBronsPuzzy
What did he do?
ChelVanin
Time
reverendbonobo
Possession of unlicensed melanin.
ZeroLyfe
He was born black.
Madalchemist2018
Old man in the south: Yup, that's a hanging offense in these parts.
likuidlightning
Nothing.
CaptainYesterday
Supposedly armed robbery with several other black men. But even the initial responding officer observed that several armed men allegedly committed an armed home invasion and left without leaving footprints in the snow. That info was withheld from defense and judge ruled he should get a new trial for it. The current prosecutor decided to not bring new charges based on that and other evidence.
PwnageHobo
Gotta love that "Justice" system. Find your preferred perp. Then look for any evidence to pin them to the crime.
SpammersAreScum
One missing piece in all this: Apparently, someone reported an armed home invasion and robbery by multiple people, and someone -- maybe the same person -- was an "eyewitness" who identified this poor man. Nothing said about looking for the other supposed invaders. And now it seems there some doubt whether that crime actually happened?? What sort of conversation are the authorities having with those someones?
TheoreticalString
"Was he black? Okay boys, lock him up!" Conversation over.
Jamesstin
Probably not the same sort of thing but I had a friend was an addict who broke into his drug dealers garage to steal drugs. The dealer was angry enough to allegedly tell the police that he was home when he was infact not home. He got 15 or years but yeah could just be a story
Forensickle
Hi Mr or Mrs White woman
Hi racist cop
A black guy did it
This one
Um, yeah sure.
*Arrests black guy
Judge McWhitey: I find you guilty if being black.
There doesn't need to be any more conversation right? That's already more complicated than Jim Crow, why waste time, capitalists need slaves
applesforjuice
A crime i actually committed, and happily accepted the consequences for, was way over prosecuted for no reason. The DA summarized the police report to the judge when asked and specifically (I heard her hesitate before changing the word) said I fell instead of stumbled. I make no excuses for that DUI, but I was lucky to get a judge that went off on the DA for adding in complete bullshit. Extra charges, a drug class, (i wasn't on drugs) and more.
ThickTomato
Sounds about whyte
DorkJedi
FamilyGuyColorChart.jpg
Zange0
It's not 'there is now doubt', it's that there was doubt AT THE TIME and the prosecution withheld evidence.
VictusVonGuyver
Sometimes cops will lead "witnesses" into making new accusations. It happens all the time either by feeding information or even threatening them. It makes the cops look like they get results but doom innocent people in the process.
frozenlake247
Plus if anything goes wrong (like the person grows a conscience) they can come back and charge that person with making false reports.
req4adream99
None. It’s why the death penalty is abhorrent. Add in that the death penalty doesn’t actually stop anyone from committing a crime that could receive the death penalty, and that the death penalty costs more than life imprisonment, and most reasonable people agree that is stupid to have a death penalty on the books. The only people that tend to support the death penalty are repubs cuz it gives them a sense of power over others.
Ghlargh
Not to mention the concept of "I am already getting the death penalty so nothing i do to escape will make it worse", i.e. kill people and burn houses down in attempts to evade the law.
jursamaj
You know the solution they usually come up with for the expense? Limiting their appeals, so it's cheaper & faster to kill them.
LoudBirb
Because they don't care how many innocent people the system kills so long as most of them are black or brown and they get their revenge power fantasy.
TanithRosenbaum
I believe there's an actual judgement in one death penalty case in which previously all appeals were exhausted before new evidence strongly suggesting the convicted's innocence was found where the judge stated that new evidence does not warrant additional appeals. That's how little they care about actual humans and human lives...
justfillingthespace
Do some people deserve to die? Yes, absolutely, beyond any shadow of a doubt. Is our justice system solid enough to make that decision? Absolutely fucking not.
ilhares
I'm very left-leaning but I support it. In fact, I think it should be doled out for a lot more crimes. Drunk driving? G'night, Gracie.
Moghjubar
"Dude, I blew zero!"
req4adream99
And he enjoyed it.
Z0op
Sooo… your left leaning ass is suggesting that this man should have gotten death penalty and not gotten the chance for the whole thing to be proven bogus..
you do know that this is what you are saying here, right?
Left leaning… yeah right, thats some extreme right reasoning
TheLashiel
I think he just means he's got a lean, like maybe one leg is shorter than the other, politics wise he is obviously right winged but he kinda leans
ilhares
No, that's not what I'm saying. That's what you're choosing to say. There definitely should have been a very thorough investigation, which if there wasn't corruption involved, would have shown this man should never have been jailed in the first place.
What I'm saying is that there are a lot of people that this world would be better off for by eliminating. Those who intentionally, ignorantly, work to worsen the lives of others.
Z0op
When you advocate for death sentence you expect the system to be infallible, because you go “… if there is isn’t…” well there is, there is corruption and people also just make honest mistakes.
So no, death sentence is never a realistic option, you cant claim it to be and claim to be left leaning
SalmonTheWise
He's so left leaning he supports national socialism.
ilhares
More of a parliamentary representative democracy sort, really.