Johnnie Lindsey spent 26 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, but the money that was supposed to help make it right will not go to Lindsey’s widow.
Lindsey died after a battle with liver cancer on Saturday. After his release from prison, the state paid him a lump sum then set up annuity payments based on a formula that takes estimated life expectancy into account. The monthly payments stopped after his death and his widow argues they shouldn’t.
“They told me they were sorry for my loss, but there was nothing they could do about it,” said Sherita Lindsey.
Lindsey says her husband spent his last days concerned about what would happen to her.
“He was worried about me more than he was himself and how I was going to be able to handle everything,” said Lindsey.
A compensation program, stemming from the Tim Cole Act of 2009, sets out the guidelines for someone wrongfully imprisoned and declared “actually innocent.” Typically, a qualifying exoneree gets a lump sum that adds up to $80,000 a year for each year of imprisonment. Exonerees also qualify for monthly annuity payments that continue unless an exoneree is later convicted of a felony crime or if the exoneree dies. In the case of death, the payments don’t automatically go to family members.
According to state records, Lindsey received a lump sum payment of $1,820,000.00 in 2009 and up until his death at 65 years old, he received $997,284.64 in total annuity payments.
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“Twenty six years for something you didn’t do, he could have been working a job, he could have been receiving some benefits,” said Sherita Lindsey.
In 2015, the legislature passed another law that offered exonerees a chance to set up an alternative annuity payment for a beneficiary. It would require an exoneree to give up a portion of their annuity payments and allow the state to invest the money to eventually make other payments to either a spouse or child. The law gave exonerees 45 days to enroll. It was a one-time window.
In 2015, Sherita Lindsey says they opted not to participate, saying they felt the state should just continue the same regular payments to family.
“They should be able to appoint whoever they want as their beneficiary without any kind of stipulation because they were awarded the money,” said Lindsey.
Once Johnnie Lindsey was diagnosed with liver cancer last summer, Sherita says he began looking into options to ensure his wife would be taken care of with continued annuity payments, but learned there were no other options.
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts administers payments to exonerees who are eligible to receive compensation for their wrongful imprisonment. A spokesperson for the agency confirms there is no mechanism in place that would allow Lindsey to continue to receive the payments, citing the 2015 law and the specific rules laid out by the legislature.
“Unfortunately, we don't have leeway to adjust the way we administer the program. The program is laid out in state law,” said Chris Bryan, Agency Spokesperson for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
He said around 100 exonerees were eligible to designate a beneficiary under the 2015 law, but says few opted in.
“I believe it should have been better explained to them,” said Lindsey.
She plans to continue her husband’s criminal justice advocacy work and fight to have the state law changed to give exonerees more options.
“I can’t do anything about it other than to try to help fight to rectify it,” said Lindsey. “Even if it doesn’t benefit me, it would benefit other exonerees and other families in the future.”
