This man was thrown in jail under false accusation, and it has been shown a number of times that that does happen (one case in Oklahoma had a medical specialist give false evidence for years). These are normally people who cannot mount a cogent legal defense, and the prosecution simply wants the whole thing over quick. Any real evidence otherwise is thrown out, and a quick open-and-shut case occurs. Many years later, some people working through a huge backlog trying to find (using funds from donors) innocent people finally manage to prove beyond a doubt that it wasn't the person. The person is freed ...in this case many years later. The state obviously cannot give the person his time back, thus they do the next best thing when it comes to units of payment - give him some money.
It is not about how much he would have made ...but rather about his lost freedom. Now, whose fault is it? It is not yours, as a tax payer, thus it is understandable why you would be annoyed this man was compensated for his freedom. However, it was the state's fault, and thus the state has to pay. Sadly, you pay taxes to the state, thus it is your taxes. Those are the breaks ...in the same way if a father buys a house that is too expensive for his income, and he defaults ...and as a result he and his family (say 3 kids) are homeless, then it is simply too sad for the kids, but they also have to pay for their father's mistakes. Is it the childrens' fault that their father did not have a good cap on his finances? No ...but they are still out of a house.
This man, in my opinion, is not being compensated for what he would have earned! There is no way to know how much, or even if he would still be alive if he was outside prison (maybe he would have been run over by a lawnmower 26 years ago had he not been sent to prison). But the fact of the matter is that he was imprisoned unjustly, and he should not have. It is that simple. Is it sad that your taxes (are your taxes really paying for this ...as in you as NMH) make up a hundredth of a thousandth percent of that pay-off, but the state has to pay. If it was you, you'd also not be exactly jubilant if you spent decades in jail for rape, when you did not do it. You say it's too bad if he was raped in prison, but if it was your offspring getting raped in prison when he shouldn't have been there in the first place, you probably wouldn't be as nonchalant. And if it was your daughter who was raped, and you find out that the REAL perp has been enjoying freedom for the last twenty something years, you wouldn't be as uncaring.
Anyways, as a Christian I hope this man finds salvation and peace in all that he has had to go through every single day for the last two and a half decades, and I am also glad that he at least gets something to take care of his physical needs for the time he has left.
Instead of moaning over his payment (which is less what a blue-collar UAW worker with no key skills would be paid for putting a portion of a car together assuming a basic 40 hour week over 26 years - although in this former convict's case with no insurance or pension), I would rather direct that ire at the prosecution and system that allows people like OJ to waltz out, and sends people who cannot even mount a proper legal defense to jail as if their lives did not matter. That's where my anger rests ...not on some guy who now has to figure out what to do with his life (I pray he has some sort of financial consultant to ensure the money doesn't go ...and 1.9 million is actually very little money).
Perhaps you can point out in the Bible where money is the ultimate reward. Or maybe you can point out in the Bible where the “community” or the “state” is repsonisbile for the actions of individuals? I haven’t found that in there yet.