Source: idahocapitalsun.com 9/8/23
The state of Idaho must pay more than $319,000 to an innocent man who was wrongfully incarcerated for five years and nine months.
The funding is made possible through the Wrongful Conviction Act, which the Legislature passed in 2021. Compensation only goes to people who were incarcerated and later are found factually innocent.
Joseph LaCroix was wrongfully convicted on Oct. 3, 2017, in Bonneville County of failing to register as a sex offender, a felony crime. On March 8, the District Court found that LaCroix was innocent, vacated his conviction and dismissed the case.
On Tuesday, Fourth Judicial District Judge Peter Barton granted LaCroix his certificate of innocence.
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Seventh Judicial District Judge Michael Whyte wrote in an order to vacate the conviction on March 24 that while LaCroix was convicted as a juvenile in Oregon of third degree sodomy, he should never have been required to register on Idaho’s adult sex offender registry when he moved to Idaho.
$60,000 a year is not enough. We know this because there is absolutely no one who would be willing to give up five years of the life for a mere $60,000 per year.