Wrongfully Convicted Man Gets $175,000 for 13 Years in Prison

                            

It took two decades for Thomas Webb III to get Oklahoma authorities to pay for the nightmarish years he spent in prison for a rape he didn't commit.

The state finally agreed this week to write him a check for $175,000, according to his lawyers.

The payout is the maximum amount Oklahoma law allows people who have been wrongfully convicted to collect.

That is what is supposed to make up for his 13 years of incarceration ─ the lost wages and potential, the separation from family and friends, the time he'll never get back ─ and the psychological trauma that thrust him into addiction and homelessness after he was released.

And he's not allowed to ask for anything more.

But Webb says he will gladly sign the paperwork.

Simply getting the state to pay him, and in doing so acknowledge its mistakes, is enough to give him some comfort.

"For the first time, the state of Oklahoma has accepted the fact that I have been wronged," Webb, 56, said Wednesday. "That gives me closure, a feeling that justice, in my frame of reference, has been done, that amends have been made."

Compiled by Damien