Oklahoma agrees to pay wrongly convicted man $175,000

Thomas Webb III

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The state of Oklahoma will pay $175,000 to a man wrongly convicted of rape more than 30 years ago.
The Oklahoman reported Sunday that a judge approved the settlement of the claim filed by 57-year-old Thomas Webb III.
Webb was convicted in 1983 of raping a University of Oklahoma student and spent 13 years in prison before DNA evidence proved his innocence. He was released in 1996.
A 2003 state law allows payments to those wrongly convicted, but authorities said then it didn’t apply retroactively and denied Webb’s application.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter says Webb’s attorney recently asked his office to reconsider the application and he agreed it is “appropriate” to pay him.
Webb says he’ll repay his ex-wife for hiring an attorney and arranging for DNA testing.