Dwayne Dail was falsely imprisoned for a crime that he didn't commit. As part of the his release and reentry to society Mr. Dail was awarded a settlement of around $360,000.00. Mr. Dail was incarcerated for 18 years of his life.
According to the Innocence Project website:
"Dwayne Dail was released from custody on August 28, 2007, after a state
court judge agreed to vacate his conviction and dismiss all char[g]es
against him. He was 39 when released and had served 18 years in prison.
In October 2007 Dail received a pardon from Gov. Mike Easley based on
his actual innocence."
The Goldboro News-Argus on December 14, 2007 reported that Judge adjusts claim for support and further that:
"...it's settled that the compensation awarded to people who
are wrongfully convicted is not back wages. It covers pain and suffering, legal fees, and any type of DNA testing expenses that were incurred. I'm pretty confident the number is pretty close to zero."
Even though the money received by Mr. Dail was for pain and suffering caused from his being falsely imprisoned for 18 years, amongst other things, it did not prevent an attempt by Lorraine Michaels to come forward and try to capitalize on an already bad situation. Notwithstanding the more important point of Mr. Dail not being able to witness his offspring, any children that would have been involved in a case between the parties would have already aged out of the system.
"Over recent years I have personally witnessed more and more news stories and judicial districts treating child support judgments as some sort of, after the fact, reward for raising a child, which just creates more incentives for families to separate and try to remove one parent from the lives of their children," states Lary Holland.
"Only part of the state compensation owed exonerated former inmate Dwayne
Dail can go to his child's biological mother, his attorney says.
Judge David Brantley ordered Thursday that the statute of limitations on Dail's child support responsibility is the past three
years, attorney Shelby Benton said.
State law holds that people in prison are not liable for child support payments."
"What I found most irritating was the fact that the story did not cover whether or not the biological mother and Mr. Dail were together at the time of his incarceration and whether or not the child was able to communicate on a regular basis through either letters or visits. Child Support is so much more than a simple financial obligation, it is the actual time that both parents get to spend with their children," further states Holland.
There certainly are more questions to ask about the current case at hand. We will be monitoring the News-Argus in North Carolina for more information as well as making some of our phone calls on the issue.
Lary Holland is author of numerous articles surrounding family court issues and related subjects. He is available at 800-319-4955 x3 for more information.
Original Article By:
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on December 14, 2007 02:24 PM
