Texas Exoneree Drops Lawsuit Over Compensation

A Texas man wrongly convicted of aggravated sexual assault has dropped a lawsuit against the state comptroller.

Johnnie Lindsey alleged the state denied him just compensation for his time in prison. His attorney announced Monday that his client dropped the suit after receiving an additional $408,000 on top of $1.4 million previously authorized.

Now 59, Lindsey spent 26 years in prison before he was exonerated in 2008. However, Comptroller Susan Combs initially declined to pay four years of compensation because Lindsey was serving a concurrent sentence in an unrelated case.

A joint motion filed by both parties cites “new information” as a reason for the payment.

Texas law requires that exonerees receive $80,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration.