High court looking at case tied to wrongly convicted

LANSING (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court will look at another case that could help wrongly convicted people collect more money from the state.

Desmond Ricks spent roughly 25 years in prison before prosecutors in 2017 agreed his murder conviction should be  thrown out.

Ricks was awarded $1 million under a Michigan law that compensates the wrongly convicted for each year in prison. But he was only paid for 20 of the 25 years.

His first five years in prison were considered a parole violation.

Ricks said it’s unfair. He said he should be compensated for those five years — $216,000 — because the parole violation was related to a conviction that was ultimately erased.

The Michigan appeals court said no in a 2-1 opinion last fall. The Supreme Court said it will hear arguments in the months ahead.

The court recently heard a case that will determine whether the wrongly convicted can be paid for time spent in jail before trial.