Since DNA has played a very large part in the last couple of years in helping old cases, more than a few people have been found to be wrongfully imprisoned.

It is a standard offer of $25,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment if a person chooses to accept it. It is a Catch 22 scenario. If a person does accept this offer, they have to sign a legal document stating they have no further grounds for a lawsuit concerning the imprisonment.

Quite often, a person leaving prison will have no other resources or money to live on and will accept the immediate cash.

If they could survive the restart in life, a lawsuit for the wrongful imprisonment could yield a far more substantial sum from a sympathetic jury.

In answer to your question, yes, a person has a choice of either accepting the flat offer or suing for the amount of time incarcerated.

A judge on Friday recommended overturning the aggravated rape conviction of 56-year-old Johnnie Earl Lindsey, who has been behind bars since 1982. DNA test excluded Lindsey as the rapist in the 1981 assault of a Dallas woman near White Rock Lake.

So what happens to these people after they get out? Can they file a lawsuit against the county? Do they get some how reimbursed any money to at least try to start a life, whatever is left of it?