Pleading for Justice: Analyzing Ohio’s Wrongful Conviction Compensation Statute and the Guilty Plea Disqualification Provision

Authors

Paige Betley, Cleveland State University College of Law

Abstract

Innocent until proven guilty? For some who have walked through the criminal justice system, this American adage did not seem to ring true. The criminal justice system has produced many wrongful convictions, which is an unthinkable injustice. These individuals must then fight for compensation to get back on their feet in society after spending years, if not decades, unjustly behind bars. Ohio’s wrongful conviction compensation statute perpetuates this injustice by categorically excluding exonerees who pled guilty to a crime they did not commit from receiving compensation from the State, with no exceptions. This Note critically analyzes the inherent harms from such an exclusion and proposes an amendment to Ohio’s compensation statute that remedies these harms by giving the exoneree an opportunity to show why they pled guilty to a crime they did not commit. Ohio’s abandonment of this guilty plea disqualification provision in the compensation statute would be one step in the direction of seeking justice for those who were presumed guilty until proven innocent.

Recommended Citation

Paige Betley, Pleading for Justice: Analyzing Ohio’s Wrongful Conviction Compensation Statute and the Guilty Plea Disqualification Provision, 72 Clev. St. L. Rev. 753 (2024)
available at https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol72/iss3/9