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Arizona will offer payment for people who were wrongly convicted, imprisoned
Mary Jo Pitzl, Arizona RepublicOriginally published August 25, 2025 A new Arizona law that will compensate people who have been wrongly imprisoned traces back to one lawmaker’s own prison experience. For more than a decade, first-term Rep. Khyl Powell has been involved with prison ministry work, including three years as

The Price of Innocence
Arizona is finally bringing justice to the wrongfully convicted, on a trial basis. Nicole Ludden, Arizona AgendaOriginally published July 28th, 2025 Next year, Arizona will start the process of compensating people who’ve been incarcerated for crimes they didn’t commit. We told you about the push for an erroneous convictions law

Arizona Enacts Law to Provide Justice for the Wrongfully Convicted
New Law Sponsored by State Rep. Khyl Powell Grants Restitution and Record Expungement to Exonerated Arizonans NEWS RELEASE Monday, June 30, 2025FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Arizona House of Representatives Representative Khyl Powell (R-14) STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX – Legislation sponsored by State Representative Khyl Powell to compensate Arizonans who were proven

Arizona Passes a New Law, Financial Compensation for Those Who Have Been Wrongly Convicted
STATEMENT FROM THE ARIZONA JUSTICE PROJECT July 2, 2025 Media contact: Katie Puzauskas602-844-1220katie.puzauskas@azjusticeproject.org On Friday, June 27, 2025, Governor Katie Hobbs signed SB1500 into law, making Arizona the 41st state to provide a legal avenue to seek financial compensation for years lost due to a wrongful conviction. Those who meet

Arizona to compensate wrongfully convicted under new law
Haley Williams, KPNX-TV PhoenixOriginally published June 30th, 2025 Those in Arizona who have been wrongfully convicted will be eligible for compensation under a new Arizona law. Governor Katie Hobbs signed Senate Bill 1500 on Friday, establishing a pilot program for individuals who have been incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. Under

SB1500: Restoring dignity and lives after wrongful conviction
Khyl Powell, Guest Commentary, AZCapitolTimesOriginally published February 21, 2025 For 14 years, I have volunteered as a chaplain ministering to felons who have been incarcerated by the Arizona Justice System helping them to rebuild their lives. I’ve spent thousands of hours sitting across from men whose lives have been broken
Articles

Wrongfully Imprisoned 29 Years, Stanley Wrice Wins Second Chance
After maintaining his innocence for 29 years, an Illinois man has earned the right to a hearing on his actual innocence claim. Stanley Wrice was convicted in 1982 after falsely confessing to Chicago Police for a brutal sexual assault. Wrice’s case is set to be heard before the Illinois Supreme Court. Read more about the

Scientific Advances Cloud Past Arson Cases
A recent Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article published states that advances in arson investigation could now make past evidence outdated, and because of this, several convictions in Pennsylvania are now being challenged. Currently, questionable arson convictions are also under review in other states including Texas, Massachusetts, and here in Arizona. From the article:
Justice: Prosecute Prosecutors?
In Virginia, Bennett Barbour served countless years on a sentence for a rape conviction that was based on eyewitness testimony, the least reliable of all the forms of evidence used in courts today. The police learned that, through testing of DNA material, Mr. Barbour was excluded as being the perpetrator in this

Man Wins Supreme Court Appeal For New Trial
In a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, a Louisiana man has won the right to a new trial after a major Brady Rule violation in his case has come to light. Juan Smith was convicted with for an armed robbery in which only one piece of evidence was used to
Death Sentence in Delaware Overturned
A man is once again free after serving 20 years on Delaware’s Death Row. Jermaine Wright’s sentence was overturned after his attorneys proved that, even with a videotaped confession, the evidence against him was not sufficient enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Wright was indeed guilty. According to an article in