no amount of money can make up for 22 years in the slammer, but yeah, it would be cool if he could get enough cash to live a comfortable life to ripe old age
Depends on the state. I think some give minimum wage, some give average state income, some give what you were earning when you were arrested...
how about the average salary of a resident of the state over the last 22 years, plus 3x that amount for damages.
I've seen this come up before. (Someone else, that is.) They paid him lost wages, and that was it. No damages, because there was no evil intent. No crime, and no incompetence. They couldn't prove that anything was done maliciously; it was all done with the intent of upholding the law, and it was just too bad that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nobody to blame. It just happened - he was convicted by a jury, and the jury was wrong. Oh, well. Here are your lost wages. Sorry about that. Goodbye.