The Illusion of Victim Compensation

While reviewing USA Today’s lengthy exposé of prosecutorial misconduct, I happened upon the following story, which seemed apt in these times of blaming bankers. “ Va. Bankers Scored a Rare Victory against Prosecutors .”

Richard Holland and Richard Holland Jr. were bankers in Virginia back in the 1990s, when they were charged with hiding evidence about FDIC loans: The “rare victory” mentioned in the article title was not merely that their case was thrown out by the judge immediately after the prosecution had presented its evidence and before the defense had even begun to rebut. It was that the Hollands also won partial compensation for their legal bills under a 1997 law called “the Hyde Amendment.” USA Today’s investigation was able to find only 13 cases of such compensation. Yet even such compensation, the Hollands learned, does not cover all legal costs.

And of course it did not begin to cover the non-financial devastation of prosecutorial misconduct. The elder Holland’s wife died during the case, and he himself died before his final vindication under the Hyde Amendment.

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