17-22-7. Amount of compensation; reductions; annual adjustments.

A claimant that satisfies the requirements of and is entitled to compensation under Code Section 17-22-5 shall be awarded:#

1. (1)

   For each year of incarceration, $75,000.00, provided that a prorated amount shall be allocated to any partial year of incarceration;#

2. (2)

   An additional $25,000.00 for each year of incarceration while awaiting a sentence of death based on the conviction at issue, provided that a prorated amount shall be allocated to any partial year of incarceration;#

3. (3)

   The reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees, costs, and expenses incurred by the claimant or on the claimant’s behalf in reversing or vacating the claimant’s conviction, obtaining a pardon, and filing a claim for compensation under this chapter; and#

4. (4)

   Reimbursement for restitution, costs, fines, fees, or surcharges paid by or on behalf of the claimant as a result of the wrongful conviction at issue.#

In calculating time of incarceration, an administrative law judge shall only include time served for the charge for which the claimant is making a claim under this chapter, consistent with the requirements of Code Section 17-10-11; provided, however, that a claimant shall not be entitled to compensation under this chapter for any portion of a sentence spent incarcerated during which the claimant was also serving a concurrent sentence of incarceration for another crime for which the claimant’s conviction was not overturned and for which the claimant was not pardoned based on innocence, except to the extent that:#

1. (1)

   The sentence for that crime was longer than it would have been without consideration by the sentencing court of one or more of the crimes at issue; or#

2. (2)

   The intact conviction was based on an Alford plea or a plea of nolo contendere maintaining a claim of innocence that the claimant accepted to resolve the underlying case after the original conviction was overturned, and the claimant proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the claimant did not commit the crime that resulted in the Alford plea or the plea of nolo contendere.#

If a claimant has received a monetary award or settlement in a civil action against the state, any state governmental entity, or any member, officer, employee, or agent of the state or a state governmental agency arising from or relating to the claimant’s wrongful conviction and incarceration, such amount received by the claimant, less any attorney’s fees, costs, and expenses paid by the claimant in obtaining the civil action award or settlement, shall be deducted from the amount of the compensation award to which the claimant is entitled under subsection (a) of this Code section.#

Beginning on January 1, 2026, and each year thereafter, the Office of State Administrative Hearings, by rules and regulations, shall adjust the dollar amounts specified in subsection (a) of this Code section to reflect the effect of annual inflation or deflation on the cost of living that citizens of this state experienced in the prior calendar year. In making such adjustments, the Office of State Administrative Hearings may use the Consumer Price Index, or its successor or appropriate replacement index, if any, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor.#