Thomas McGowan's journey from prison to prosperity is about to culminate in $1.8 million, and he knows just how to spend it: on a house with three bedrooms, stainless steel kitchen appliances and a washer and dryer.
"I'll let my girlfriend pick out the rest," said McGowan, a Richardson man who was exonerated last year based on DNA evidence after spending nearly 23 years in prison for rape and robbery.
He and others in Texas, which leads the nation in freeing the wrongly convicted, will soon become instant millionaires under a new state law that took effect this week.
The former prisoners will get $80,000 for each year they spent behind bars. The compensation also includes lifetime annuity payments that for most of the wrongly convicted are worth between $40,000 and $50,000 a year – making it by far the nation's most generous package.
