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Should Arizona Compensate Wrongfully Incarcerated People?

On March 23, the U.S. Supreme Court denied to hear a case involving a man who spent more than four decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. That came after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals arrived at a similar conclusion.

Then-16-year-old Louis Taylor was convicted of setting a fire at Tucson’s Pioneer Hotel in 1970. The fire killed 28 people. Years later, the Arizona Justice Project started working on Taylor’s case and was able to prove the fire was not arson.

Taylor was released from prison in 2012, and he sued Pima County for damages for his wrongful incarceration. That was the lawsuit the high court turned away. 

The Show spoke with Lindsay Herf, Executive Director at the Arizona Justice Project, about what the court’s rationale was for not letting Taylor’s lawsuit to proceed.

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Mark Brodie is a co-host of The Show, KJZZ’s locally produced news magazine. Since starting at KJZZ in 2002, Brodie has been a host, reporter and producer, including several years covering the Arizona Legislature, based at the Capitol.