Just after the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, four people who’d spent time behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit asked Arizona to make amends. Just minutes earlier, a new state law had gone into effect with the new year that created a process for them to get compensation for their wrongful convictions and incarcerations. They were the first of a rash of claims under the new law. Very quickly, the $3 million set aside in a special fund created by the legislation was accounted for.
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Despite the clamor for justice, earlier this month Maricopa County filed a civil lawsuit in Maricopa Superior Court to end the new law that streamlines the process for Arizonans wrongfully convicted of and incarcerated for felonies to seek compensation. The county argued that the new law violated Arizona’s constitution.
“The Arizona Legislature overstepped its powers,” the complaint read. “Senate Bill 1500 creates a flawed system that invades matters constitutionally assigned to the judiciary. More specifically, it forces courts to decide claims of innocence outside normal post-conviction procedures and places local governments at risk of significant financial liability without a fair chance to defend their interests.”
Maricopa County filed the lawsuit jointly with Pima County and the city of Tucson. The defendants named, in addition to the state of Arizona, included Colonel Jeffrey Glover, Ryan Thornell, and Elizabeth Alvarado-Thorson, the directors of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Arizona Department of Corrections, and Arizona Department of Administration, respectively, and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes in their official capacities.
The law, S.B. 1500, barely passed on the last day of the session in 2025. It went into effect on Jan. 1 of this year. It establishes a process for people wrongfully convicted of a felony and incarcerated to receive compensation from a fund established for the purpose. Compensation for approved claims is 200% of Arizona’s median income for each year a person was incarcerated, adjusted for inflation. The law also allows up to $500,000 per claim for other costs such as mental health care, attorney fees, financial literacy courses, and other damages.
Under the law, counties and cities found to be implicated in the wrongful conviction because of employees who “committed harmful error or misconduct” are required to reimburse the fund. But the law prohibits the cities and counties from defending themselves against the claims, a provision the lawsuit says is unconstitutional. It also doesn’t provide a path for the cities and counties to appeal.
“Senate Bill 1500 seeks to usurp the constitutional power of the Arizona Supreme Court to promulgate and enforce rules for Arizona courts by creating a statutory exception that denies cities and counties the ability to intervene in these compensation claims, thereby denying them the right to due process and the privilege to defend oneself that is afforded any other litigant under court rules,” the complaint read.
Jason Berry, deputy director of communications for Maricopa County, declined to comment for this story. None of the plaintiffs responded to requests for comment.
Who is responsible for the payouts under the law and how to fund it has been a controversial issue since the law’s inception. The $3 million allocated to the fund by the state is already spoken for by filed claims, and legislators did not add more funding in the last session.
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State Rep. Khyl Powell, a Republican from Gilbert, who authored the bill, declined to comment on the lawsuit. In February, he told the Arizona Capitol Times that he would work to “refine” the bill, with the funding and its source a main focus of the refinement.
“Everybody was concerned about who would be held accountable for the compensation,” Powell told the Arizona Capitol Times. “We don’t want them quarreling between themselves.”
Which is exactly what is happening. In the complaint, lawyers for Maricopa County and its co-plaintiffs wrote that they don’t want to be held financially responsible in a process that doesn’t give them a voice.
“Both counties and cities may be sued for money damages and, therefore, have a right to defend themselves in such actions,” the complaint read.
They acknowledged the need for a system to right the wrongs against people wrongfully convicted.
“Plaintiffs support the creation of a process for people erroneously convicted in Arizona courts to be made whole through compensation and additional support,” the first sentence of the complaint reads.
But when asked by Phoenix New Times about a possible alternative, it offered no other remedy for the people who spent time behind bars for something they didn’t do and instead declined to comment.
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