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Delegate Mike Griffith seeks repeal of county cost-sharing for wrongful-conviction awards
Summary
In a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Delegate Mike Griffith and county officials urged repeal of a 2025 BRFA provision that shifted 50% of wrongful-conviction compensation costs to counties, citing unplanned fiscal burdens; a civil-rights attorney warned county involvement can complicate innocence proceedings.
March 20, 2026 — The House Judiciary Committee heard HB1605 on Wednesday, a bill sponsored by Delegate Mike Griffith that would repeal a fiscal-year-2025 BRFA provision requiring counties to reimburse the state for 50% of wrongful-conviction compensation awards.
"The responsibility to fund that compensation should rest with the state," Griffith told the committee, arguing that counties have no role in prosecutions, appeals or award determinations and therefore should not shoulder the costs. The sponsor said plaintiffs’ and defense bars proposed a friendly amendment to make the bill apply retroactively to awards and payments issued on or after July 1, 2025, to cover four ongoing cases.
Witnesses for the bill included county officials and associations who described…
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