Graves: No Restitution

The state has denied former death row inmate Anthony Graves compensation for the 16 years he was wrongly imprisoned because Graves has not submitted to Comptroller Susan Combs paperwork declaring him innocent. Graves was convicted of participating in a grisly multiple murder in Burleson County in 1992. Though his conviction was overturned in 2006, Graves remained in jail until late last year, when prosecutors finally declared that he had not been involved in the crime. But to be granted access to the wrongful incarceration compensation fund, Graves needs to provide either an official pardon from Gov. Rick Perry (impossible since his conviction had been overturned) or paperwork showing that a court had "granted relief on the basis of actual innocence of the crime for which the person was sentenced," reads the letter from Combs' office – also not an option since it was the state's prosecutors who declared Graves innocent. Kelly Siegler, the former Harris County prosecutor who was tasked with retrying Graves and who, last fall, declared Graves wrongfully convicted for a crime he did not commit, told the Houston Chronicle that state officials should have taken into consideration the unique circumstances of Graves' case. "Who would have envisioned this kind of situation happening?" she asked. "I'm willing to testify to the fact that we believe he is innocent. I've signed an affidavit. I'm not sure what we are supposed to do to make it happen."