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Comment by chii | Hacker News Reader

if you were wrongly convicted of a crime, would the costs of your defense be somehow be re-imbursed or compensated?

There have been people wrongly convicted who can't even get out of prison once something like DNA evidence exonerates them.

I believe there's even been cases where people have been executed despite DNA evidence exonerating them.

IIRC, the judge's opinion was something like "Well, we followed all the procedures correctly, it doesn't matter if the wrong conclusion was reached"

Um, no? That verdict is what you are paying your lawyer to get for you. And if you are one of the few who aren't to accept a plea bargain and actually force the issue to go to trial (which is necessary to prove that you were wrongly convicted), it's going to cost many thousands of dollars.

A median for the defense is about $1500, including all the cheap plea bargains that don't go to a time-consuming expensive trial. A starting price for a misdemeanor that goes to trial might be $2000-$3000. Felonies and long, complicated trials just go up from there.

You may be thinking of a civil defense, where you can work out to pay nothing if you lose, but they're going to take some of the pot if you win. Or of a public defender, who is nominally free, but most states charge a few hundred to a couple thousand in court fees anyway.

No, though I'd think your attorney fees and court costs are the least of your worries after a few years in prison.

Looks like there are some attempts to provide compensation, but they vary

https://www.innocenceproject.org/compensating-wrongly-convic...

No. In the US, costs are never reimbursed in criminal trials. They might be reimbursed in civil suits, if rarely.

Even the juror compensation is something ridiculous like $10/day. I don't think subpoenaed witnesses are compensated for anything.

> Even the juror compensation is something ridiculous like $10/day

Yes, it seems logical if jurors would be compensated at least as the minimal wage per hour. In small communities it could probably lead to something like 'professional juror' but I think it could be dealt with by monthly/yearly cap for compensation.

You can't choose to sit on a jury in the US. People are randomly selected (I think from voting registrations). Small towns have less crime and less need for jurors. Even so, because the choice is not up to you, the "professional juror" would just be a very unlucky person.

Yes, you're right, small towns have less crime, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I get sufficient pay from my "real job" and vacation time, and never, ever was required to provide military service (or even register for the draft due to my date of birth), so I don't worry about compensation when the jury summons comes.

Some states you get money, some states you are not entitled to any whatsoever.

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