Richard Anthony Jones was wrongfully convicted of a robbery in Kansas and spent nearly 17 years in prison based on eyewitness testimony alone, without any physical evidence tying him to the crime.
Eventually, lawyers discovered another man who looked very much like him and even shared the same first name. When witnesses were shown photos of both men, they couldn’t reliably tell them apart. This led to Jones’s conviction being overturned in 2017.
After his release, Jones sought compensation for the years he lost. In 2018, Kansas awarded him $1.1 million under a newly enacted law designed to compensate people who were wrongfully convicted. Along with the financial settlement, Jones received a certificate of innocence, had his criminal record cleared, and was provided with two years of state health care and counseling services. This case was the first in Kansas to benefit from this compensation law, which grants $65,000 for each year someone spent in prison wrongly.
Let_us_proceed on
17 years in prison…my god.
Sinikal-_- on
That doesn’t seem like enough compensation to me. Sure 1.1mil is a lot of money but 17 years of your life is no joke.
okiujh on
1.1 million is not nearly enough
JesseGeorg on
Uncanny.
Fair_Minimum_3643 on
Even 1 mil/year wouldnt be enough. also the investigators should be prosecuted
Later_Doober on
1.1 million is way to low. He should get a million for each year.
fullchub on
I can’t even fathom how goddamn frustrating it would be to sit in the courtroom listening to the prosecution’s eyewitness swear up-and-down that they saw you commit a crime you didn’t commit.
iwaki_commonwealth on
like 65k a year.
excellent pay 17ya, average to slightly below average today. you get taxed from thE 1.1m? get therapy coverage? seems he deserved more for the mistake.
GigaEel on
Man is gonna get a new haircut ASAP
Wyldjay2 on
1.1 million. He was robbed!
LukeyLeukocyte on
I know a lot of cases rely solely on eyewitness testimony, but I feel like that should **never** be enough to convict on its own. I would rather a criminal go free than an innocent person be imprisoned.
ElectricWormFinder on
Evil Lewis Hamilton
xtr44 on
so they both haven’t changed a bit in their appearance for 17 years straight?
Link1227 on
USSSOOO
Bean-Penis on
33 years minimum wage using today’s USD to GBP, not enough for me to spend 17 years inside.
RealisticNecessary50 on
That is not enough money. Not even close
TemporaryTension2390 on
Glad I don’t live in the US. Seems no rule of law back then and even less now
WarWifflebat2k25 on
Im sorry, but which one was the actual guy?
Thra99 on
Holy, they look like carbon copies almost.
Lanky_Succotash_986 on
Damn I’d just kill myself
Discipline_Cautious1 on
Now he races F1 for Ferrari.
PineTreeSC on
We got people considering $230m payouts for the hassle of being rightfully investigated and we got this
tiabeaniedrunkowitz on
That number is way too low
konodioda879 on
That’s just unfortunate, huh?
Cocotte123321 on
$7.38 per hour of his life.
Alarmed_Drop7162 on
Sue your barber. That was a set up.
AppleMelon95 on
17 years apparently are worth exactly 1.1 mil. Which is what top football players make in about a month, depending on how popular you are.
Extra_Truck_2689 on
That is a joke settlement
Ok_Material_5634 on
They don’t look that much alike. $1M isn’t NEARLY enough.
IndependentThink4698 on
I feel like this has been being posted for almost as long as he was in prison
ClimbingtheMtn on
Random question, does he have to pay taxes on that? Should be something like $1mm + $100k per year for life. I always thought settlements like this were much bigger.Â
AdhesiveSeaMonkey on
That’s about 65k per year. In a normal life that might be acceptable, but this man was in prison for that time. Not even close to enough. Multiplying it by 10 wouldn’t even be enough in my opinion.
No_Duty_2002 on
Yep. He definitely fits the description.
Capt91 on
Eyewitness testimony alone is extremely unreliable. Crazy
drakner1 on
And how much you want to bet people who arrested him will not learn from their mistakes.
BecauseSeven8Nein on
Good on the lawyers for never giving up
crazyLemon553 on
1.1M$ is a godsdamn joke.
thedragonturtle on
Which one is the real convict? Need to know in case I see him in the street.
SnooPaintings5597 on
That doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t do the robbery. It only means that it’s possible that it was a different person who looks like him. It means that prosecutors need more than just eye witnesses. He was convicted by jury (unless he went with bench trial) so it’s not like he was just jailed by prosecutors without any trial.
He got My Cousin Vinnie… maybe…
eijapa on
Its kinda crazy how much they look alike. They even have the same ish slightly asymmetrical mouth/jaw. In the same direction.
xamott on
Every Puerto Rican in NY looks like that, it took his lawyers 17 years?
WingardiumLeviussy on
How to become a millionaire in just 17 years!
Xenomorph_25 on
This is one of my biggest fears. I’ve been mistaken for so many people before. When I was working as a case manager, I had a woman who ran a non-profit organization servicing homeless individuals. She and another employee were convinced (and wouldn’t accept otherwise for several minutes, until my boss spoke up) that I was one of her homeless clients. Which was disconcerting because many of our shared homeless clientele are career criminals with police records a mile long.
afoogli on
17 years of his prime years he prob now in his 40s or 50s. 1.1 million after lawyer fees and deduction is quite sad, you can’t ever get those experiences back and you health only can decline with age
Dropship_Adeel on
This is why we need serious legal reform. A “certificate of innocence” and a paltry sum doesn’t fix a broken system that allowed this to happen.
46 Comments
Richard Anthony Jones was wrongfully convicted of a robbery in Kansas and spent nearly 17 years in prison based on eyewitness testimony alone, without any physical evidence tying him to the crime.
Eventually, lawyers discovered another man who looked very much like him and even shared the same first name. When witnesses were shown photos of both men, they couldn’t reliably tell them apart. This led to Jones’s conviction being overturned in 2017.
After his release, Jones sought compensation for the years he lost. In 2018, Kansas awarded him $1.1 million under a newly enacted law designed to compensate people who were wrongfully convicted. Along with the financial settlement, Jones received a certificate of innocence, had his criminal record cleared, and was provided with two years of state health care and counseling services. This case was the first in Kansas to benefit from this compensation law, which grants $65,000 for each year someone spent in prison wrongly.
17 years in prison…my god.
That doesn’t seem like enough compensation to me. Sure 1.1mil is a lot of money but 17 years of your life is no joke.
1.1 million is not nearly enough
Uncanny.
Even 1 mil/year wouldnt be enough. also the investigators should be prosecuted
1.1 million is way to low. He should get a million for each year.
I can’t even fathom how goddamn frustrating it would be to sit in the courtroom listening to the prosecution’s eyewitness swear up-and-down that they saw you commit a crime you didn’t commit.
like 65k a year.
excellent pay 17ya, average to slightly below average today. you get taxed from thE 1.1m? get therapy coverage? seems he deserved more for the mistake.
Man is gonna get a new haircut ASAP
1.1 million. He was robbed!
I know a lot of cases rely solely on eyewitness testimony, but I feel like that should **never** be enough to convict on its own. I would rather a criminal go free than an innocent person be imprisoned.
Evil Lewis Hamilton
so they both haven’t changed a bit in their appearance for 17 years straight?
USSSOOO
33 years minimum wage using today’s USD to GBP, not enough for me to spend 17 years inside.
That is not enough money. Not even close
Glad I don’t live in the US. Seems no rule of law back then and even less now
Im sorry, but which one was the actual guy?
Holy, they look like carbon copies almost.
Damn I’d just kill myself
Now he races F1 for Ferrari.
We got people considering $230m payouts for the hassle of being rightfully investigated and we got this
That number is way too low
That’s just unfortunate, huh?
$7.38 per hour of his life.
Sue your barber. That was a set up.
17 years apparently are worth exactly 1.1 mil. Which is what top football players make in about a month, depending on how popular you are.
That is a joke settlement
They don’t look that much alike. $1M isn’t NEARLY enough.
I feel like this has been being posted for almost as long as he was in prison
Random question, does he have to pay taxes on that? Should be something like $1mm + $100k per year for life. I always thought settlements like this were much bigger.Â
That’s about 65k per year. In a normal life that might be acceptable, but this man was in prison for that time. Not even close to enough. Multiplying it by 10 wouldn’t even be enough in my opinion.
Yep. He definitely fits the description.
Eyewitness testimony alone is extremely unreliable. Crazy
And how much you want to bet people who arrested him will not learn from their mistakes.
Good on the lawyers for never giving up
1.1M$ is a godsdamn joke.
Which one is the real convict? Need to know in case I see him in the street.
That doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t do the robbery. It only means that it’s possible that it was a different person who looks like him. It means that prosecutors need more than just eye witnesses. He was convicted by jury (unless he went with bench trial) so it’s not like he was just jailed by prosecutors without any trial.
He got My Cousin Vinnie… maybe…
Its kinda crazy how much they look alike. They even have the same ish slightly asymmetrical mouth/jaw. In the same direction.
Every Puerto Rican in NY looks like that, it took his lawyers 17 years?
How to become a millionaire in just 17 years!
This is one of my biggest fears. I’ve been mistaken for so many people before. When I was working as a case manager, I had a woman who ran a non-profit organization servicing homeless individuals. She and another employee were convinced (and wouldn’t accept otherwise for several minutes, until my boss spoke up) that I was one of her homeless clients. Which was disconcerting because many of our shared homeless clientele are career criminals with police records a mile long.
17 years of his prime years he prob now in his 40s or 50s. 1.1 million after lawyer fees and deduction is quite sad, you can’t ever get those experiences back and you health only can decline with age
This is why we need serious legal reform. A “certificate of innocence” and a paltry sum doesn’t fix a broken system that allowed this to happen.