
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990                   TAG: 9004130589
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: associated press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

PAYMENT TO EX-INMATE TO BE CUT

Gov. Douglas Wilder plans to cut compensation paid to the family of a man wrongfully convicted of murder from $25,000 to $10,000, according to Wilder officials.

The General Assembly passed legislation to pay Craig Bell $10,000 and his mother, Joan Watson, $15,000 for Bell's wrongful conviction for murder in 1986. Bell was found guilty by a Virginia Beach jury of murdering his girlfriend. Two months after Bell began serving a 20-year sentence, another man confessed to the crime.

Wilder's amendment to the bill, released Wednesday, removed Watson from the payment. She had mortgaged her home in Canton, Mich., to pay for her son's defense.

Laura Dillard, Wilder's press secretary, said the governor was afraid of setting a precedent by paying Watson. "This is the first time that someone other than the aggrieved person has been given money," she said.

by CNB