After 2 decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, man receives $6 million. Then his ex-wife who divorced him while he was inside demands a share

It is hard to wrap your head around what Steven Phillips went through. A post from Reddit on the D*mnthatsinteresting subreddit summarized it well. “Steven Phillips spent 24 years in a Texas prison for crimes he didn’t commit and was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2008. He received $6 million in compensation. His ex-wife sued for a share, but in 2014, the court ruled the money was for personal injury and solely his,” Redditor Status_Energy_7935 wrote

According to The Innocence Project, his case is an unfortunate example of a broken system. Phillips had been convicted for a string of sex crimes that took place in 1982. The real perpetrator, Sidney Alvin Goodyear, was later linked to at least 16 other sexual assaults across several states while Phillips was imprisoned. When he initially applied for the DNA test, he was denied in 2002. 

Through the efforts of the Innocence Project, Phillips was eventually released on parole in 2007. On October 1, 2008, his exoneration became official through a writ of habeas corpus from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He was then awarded a compensation package that totaled $6 million. At that point, per the Texas Tribune, his ex-wife Traci Tucker filed for a portion of the compensation.

The wronged parties

According to the Texas Tribune, Tucker argued that the marriage was meant to be for life and that she had spent years supporting him, raising their son, and paying for his legal needs while he was incarcerated. The couple eventually divorced in 1992, long before the DNA evidence cleared his name. As she had noted, “He was a victim of a wrongful justice system, and his family was also.” 

In 2012, a Dallas County state district judge initially ruled in favor of Tucker. The court awarded her about $153,000, which included legal fees and a portion of what she claimed were lost wages.

Phillips, however, did not agree. The Tribune reported that he appealed the decision, maintaining that the compensation was meant for his personal injury and the years he lost, not as a division of marital assets. He described the lawsuit as “really freaking outrageous” in his comments to the Texas Tribune. He additionally noted that he had already faced a mountain of legal bills and other lawsuits since his release.

As detailed by Courthouse News, a three-judge panel with the 5th District Court of Appeals reversed Tucker’s initial award in 2014. Justice David Evans wrote for the panel that the law provides compensation based solely on the number of years wrongfully incarcerated, without regard to an exoneree’s work history or economic losses. 

The court noted that while the law includes provisions for unpaid child support, it does not provide compensation for the spouses of exonerees. The reversal was a massive relief for Phillips and his legal team. 

His attorney, Randy Turner, told Courthouse News that his client “really deserved a break.” Turner explained the broader implications of the case, stating, “If the court had ruled in his ex-wife’s favor, it would have opened the floodgates to litigation by all exonerees’ ex-wives.”

The Reddit post sparked an intense debate in the comments section. One user noted, “The real crime is that $6M is considered adequate for a quarter century of wrongful imprisonment.” Another Redditor agreed, writing, “6 million doesn’t touch the value for 24 years stolen from someone’s life.” In a different case, a man was only exonerated after he was executed.

Some users pointed out the complexity that exists for the people involved in the cases. One user laid out a different perspective.  They wrote, “She was trying to recoup what she paid for his lawyer. She stood by him during the trial and for some time while he was in prison and helped pay for his legal fees. She only asked for like $200k or something like that. And he was the one to suggest divorce, I believe. Honestly, if it was me, I would have just given it to her.” 

Another user highlighted where the courts had failed the wife. They reminded everyone, “Not to be lost in the details, Judge Lori Chrisman Hockett actually awarded her $115k before a panel of judges said f*ck off.”

It is truly a difficult situation when you consider the cost. As one Redditor put it, “Just to imagine being locked away for 24 YEARS over something you didn’t do only to end up attacked by someone you used to love. The world in which we live can be a waking hell sometimes.” Like Phillips, Rodney Reed’s request for a DNA test was recently denied.

While the courts eventually sided with Phillips, the case serves as a stark reminder of the unintended consequences that even the accused families have to face.