TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – A bipartisan bill at the statehouse would expand who can seek compensation after a wrongful conviction, including some people cleared through a pardon.
House Bill 501 would rename Ohio’s “wrongful imprisonment” law as “wrongful incarceration” and broaden eligibility to include people adjudicated as juveniles, those held in local jails or youth detention facilities, and some people who were pardoned.
Willie Knighten Jr. was convicted of murder and attempted murder in 1996 and sentenced to 18 years to life and 10 to 25 years. He spent years writing the judge in his bench trial, claiming his innocence in hundreds of letters…