Quote:
Originally Posted by Poker Reference
He was never getting $2 million per year of wrongful incarceration, that's just what he thought his time is worth; Wisconsin's cap is $25,000, or $450,000 for 18 years.
Is this right? If I remember correctly, they said that the Wisconsin cap was 25K total. The legislature was going to pass a special bill to give him ~450K because it was felt that the existing law had a limit that was outrageously low. When he was accused of the murder, then the initiative to pass the bill came to a halt.
I'm not 100% sure on the above, so perhaps someone else can confirm.
Moreover, the lawsuit was a separate civil matter. Had there been no Halbach murder, he would have gotten the money from the State plus whatever he recovered in the civil suit. I think everyone agrees that if it had gone forward he would not have got 36 million, but getting a few million was certainlly a real possibiliy and may have been significant for the county and those named individually in the suit (depending on whether or not it was covered by insurance, which was not certain).