(WXYZ) — After a quarter-century behind bars for a murder he was eventually found to be wrongfully convicted of, Desmond Ricks has been ordered to return more than a million dollars to the state. It's part of a Court of Appeals decision after a separate lawsuit paid him more than $7 million.
Watch Simon's report in the video player below
For roughly 25 years, Desmond Ricks was an inmate in state prison, where he always maintained his innocence for the crime of murder. But after being freed, Ricks was among those to receive funds, under the state's Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act, also known as WICA, roughly $50,000 a year for each year served.
One of his attorneys was Wolf Mueller.
“Desmond Ricks endured the worst harm and suffering you can imagine," Mueller said. “25 years in a cage for a crime he didn’t commit. The compensation under the state, a million and a quarter, doesn’t come close to the harm he suffered.”
Ricks then settled a suit with the City of Detroit for $7.5 million. That's when the state wanted him to repay their 1 million dollars to the WICA fund.
The law requires that you pay back if a third party issues compensation. In the case of Desmond Ricks, it was the city of Detroit. Ricks sued to keep the WICA money, but the state court said he couldn't keep it.
State Senator Joe Bellino from Monroe said the matter is more complicated than simply paying out WICA funds and moving on.
To be specific, after the state's fund ran low years ago, he said it's been even more crucial to get money returned, in the event that Ricks and others, also wrongly convicted, sue file lawsuits against municipalities and police agencies and win.
“This was a bipartisan bill. If it comes up again, we’ll vote not to let him do that," Sen. Bellino said. "There’s no way in the world I would vote to let someone get that money, and then get 7.5 million or whatever he got. The state isn’t a huge bucket to double-dip when there is a mistake made.”
In this case, Ricks's additional lawsuit was against the City of Detroit and two officers, and accused them of falsifying evidence involving bullets back in 1992. With dozens of similar cases, Mueller said it's time for the WICA rules to be amended to allow former inmates to keep that money and any else they receive in a lawsuit.
“No amount of money can make up for harm of a quarter century and your entire adult life lost, so to say 50K a year was paid is peanuts compared to the harm?” Mueller said.
Ricks previously pointed out that he not only lost years of his life, but also the chance to see his two daughters grow up.
I also reached out to another attorney for Ricks for an interview; I'm still awaiting a response.
