William Dillon Robbed Due to 30-year-old Drug Offense
June 2nd, 2009 by CourtneyHere in lovely Playa Del Carmen, the electric company has been having some issues, so I haven’t been able to connect to the internet with any consistency (which especially sucks because my business is on the web) so I haven’t been posting much. I am also going back home to Vancouver for 4 days starting Thursday and will be very busy there so regular posting should resume in a week. Thanks to Bill Newmiller for posting on Sunday and filling the Sunday Sites void!
I was just reading the article below and it really bothers me that Florida would have such laws in place. William Dillon was convicted of a drug offense in 1979. 1979. That was 30 years ago. Because of this, the state of Florida will not be held accountable for taking away 27 years of his life. Correct me if I’m wrong, but is that not then a continuation of the punishment for a minor drug offense 30 years after the fact? At the time, the judge sentenced him to 3 years probation and a $150 fine, but what he probably should have said was “I sentence you to 3 years probation, a $150 fine and a lifetime of allowing the state of Florida to do with you what it likes without any repercussions.”
I was just reading the article below and it really bothers me that Florida would have such laws in place. William Dillon was convicted of a drug offense in 1979. 1979. That was 30 years ago. Because of this, the state of Florida will not be held accountable for taking away 27 years of his life. Correct me if I’m wrong, but is that not then a continuation of the punishment for a minor drug offense 30 years after the fact? At the time, the judge sentenced him to 3 years probation and a $150 fine, but what he probably should have said was “I sentence you to 3 years probation, a $150 fine and a lifetime of allowing the state of Florida to do with you what it likes without any repercussions.”
William Dillon didn’t have “clean hands” before he was sent to jail for 27 years for murder, so he is barred from compensation under Florida’s new Wrongful Incarceration Act.
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The 49-year-old Satellite Beach man must find a sponsor in the Florida Legislature to write a special claims bill for the 2010 session.
Dillon spent 27 years in prison for the murder of James Dvorak, but he was released last year when a judge granted a new trial based on DNA evidence. He became a free man when the state decided not to prosecute again.
“It’s a shame that a nonviolent drug conviction from when Mr. Dillon was 19 years old would bar him from being compensated under the new Victims of Wrongful Incarceration statute,” attorney Melissa Montle of the Innocence Project of Florida said. “He now has to file a claims bill during a recession in order to be rightfully compensated for the 27 years he spent in prison for a crime he did not commit.”
Dillon won’t be paid for time spent in prison
Technorati Tags: wrongul conviction, florida, wrongful incarceration act, william dillon, innocence, exonerated, prison, crime, law
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July 15th, 2010 at 3:28 am
I cannot even begin to imagine what it must feel like to be put behind bars at 19 for a crime I didn’t commit and then released 27 years later with a mere “I’m sorry. We made a mistake. It appears you didn’t really commit the crime!” There is sure to be an overwhelming feeling of outrage mixed with utter despair. Not only have the best years of your life been cruelly snatched away, but you also have a bleak future to look forward to on the job front. Nothing; absolutely nothing, can even remotely make up for taking away 27 years of a man’s life. The very least the state can do is make it easy for Mr. Dillon to claim compensation. The fact that even after all of this, he still has to struggle to be compensated is a sad reflection on the existing state of affairs