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Payment for lost years may have to wait

A senator wants a policy in place before Alan Crotzer is paid for his wrongful incarceration.

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published April 27, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Alan Crotzer spent more than half of his life in prison for crimes that DNA testing indicated he didn't commit. But the St. Petersburg man may have to wait at least another year to be compensated for 24 years of wrongful incarceration.

Crotzer, 46, was freed last year after a lengthy imprisonment for a double rape conviction by an all-white jury in 1982. This is the second year he has sought relief from the state through his lawyer, Michael Olenick, who is representing Crotzer without charge.

But in the closing days of the 2007 session, a key senator opposes a decision by the House to pay Crotzer $1.25-million, or $50,000 for each year in prison, without providing a system for similar cases in the future.

Sen. Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, who has worked extensively on wrongful imprisonment issues, said he remains opposed to arbitrarily handling such cases one by one, based on the ability of people and their lawyers to get the Legislature's attention.

"It's not going to happen," Webster said. "The real problem is having a policy that says these people have had something taken away. These people are innocent, and we ought to be willing to compensate them."

The House Policy and Budget Council on Wednesday approved the Crotzer payment, with the sponsor, Rep. Priscilla Taylor, D-West Palm Beach, calling it "an opportunity for us to right a wrong."

But that may be as far as it gets this year.

Webster said the logjam is due to the fact that the House bill compensates only Crotzer, and a Senate bill setting out a policy in all such cases is stuck in an appropriations committee with six days left in the session and cannot be heard without a unanimous vote of the Senate. The bill was filed by Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa.

The compensation level of $50,000 a year is in accordance with the federal Justice for All Act, Olenick said.

Olenick said Crotzer, who has found only temporary work and is living in St. Petersburg, is resigned to the likelihood that he may not get any money any time soon. "This is step one," Olenick said.

Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.

[Last modified April 27, 2007, 01:12:04]