News Archive

Professor Fran Watson, '80, talked about a bill under consideration by the Indiana General Assembly that would compensate Indiana's wrongfully convicted. Her interview appears as part of a story for Indianapolis television new station WISH.

The proposal would offer compensation of $50,000 per year for every year an exoneree has spent behind bars, along with services to help the person move forward with life. The exoneree could have access to the funds or sue the state of Indiana for compensation, but not do both.

"This would move Indiana forward in terms of fairness, by providing compensation to exonerees who have been found by reliable evidence to be actually innocent," Professor Watson says in the story. She is the director of the Wrongful Conviction Clinic at IU McKinney.

Kristine Bunch, who was a client of the Wrongful Conviction Clinic and won release and exoneration in 2012, is also part of the story. She's grateful the legislation is headed to the Indiana House of Representatives for a vote, but isn't certain that current exonerees will benefit from it. All of the exonerees she knows of, Bunch said, have sued the state for compensation.