Wrongly Convicted Missouri Man Ineligible for Compensation

Earlier this week I posted about Kenny Hulshof, the former Missouri prosecutor whose misconduct helped convict two innocent men of murder, and whose conduct has been questioned in anet least five other cases. I noted that not only will Hulshof never have to compensate the two men he wrongly convicted, he is also unlikely to be disciplined, meaning he'll probably continue to earn his fat salary as a lobbyist, a salary in part due to him riding his tough on crime credentials to six terms in Congress.

Yesterday, a reader sent this story about Josh Kezer, one of the men Hulshof wrongly put in jail. It turns out that under Missouri law, only those who are exonerated by DNA testing are eligible for compensation for a wrongful conviction. Kezer was freed by a judge. So after 15 years in prison, not only will he get nothing from the prosecutor who broke the rules to convict him, he'll get nothing from the state, either. Oddly enough, if Kezer had been guilty but then paroled after 15 years, he'd be eligible for a variety of state assistance programs aimed at integrated freed inmates back into society. Because he's actually innocent, he doesn't get to participate in those, either.

Meanwhile, Eapen Thampy of Americans for Forfeiture Reform sends a story about yet another Hulshof murder conviction now under review.