A PITTANCE FOR WRONGED MAN

The award of $25,000 from the state of Wisconsin to a man wrongfully convicted of rape 15 years ago will likely end what Anthony Hicks called "a long journey."

It started in 1990, when Hicks was arrested in connection with the sexual assault of a woman who lived in his Schroeder Road apartment building. It continued in 1996 when the state Supreme Court said he was entitled to a new trial after a DNA test cast doubt on the evidence used to convict him and in 1997 when the charge was dismissed. And for the past several years, it wore on as Hicks sued his criminal defense attorney to recover something for the 4 years he spent in prison.

But in what will likely be the final legal act in Hicks' ordeal, the state Claims Board on Wednesday awarded $25,000 to Hicks - the most it can pay a wrongly convicted person under state law - plus $53,060 in attorney fees, half of the $106,061 Hicks said he paid his appellate attorney, Stephen Hurley, to prove his innocence.

"This is probably the last thing," Hicks said Thursday from his home in suburban Houston, where he lives with his wife, Denise, their three sons and another son from a previous relationship. "Hopefully this is the end of it with me. It's been a long journey."

"I'm extremely happy for Anthony," said Hicks' attorney, Jeff Scott Olson. "This will represent a significant closing of a chapter in the right way."

Hicks, 43, was convicted of rape in 1991 after the victim identified him as her assailant and from hairs left at the crime scene. But a DNA analysis showed the hairs were improperly linked to Hicks.

Hicks sued his trial attorney, Willie Nunnery in 1997 for negligence in failing to pursue DNA evidence. After a trial in October 2000, a jury awarded Hicks $2.6 million, but an appeals court in 2002 said the trial did not establish Hicks' innocence and ordered a new trial. Hicks reached a confidential settlement with Nunnery in October 2004.

Hicks said he filed the action with the Claims Board in 1997, about the same time he sued Nunnery, but was told he had to wait until the Nunnery case was finished before his claim would be acted upon. The board's decision on the attorney fee was disappointing, Hicks said. The reason for the amount was not explained in the decision. Olson said the reduced attorney fee award could deter other attorneys from pursuing cases on behalf of wrongly convicted people because it could signal their costs won't be recovered.

Olson said he knows of no movement in the state Legislature, despite other recent reforms, to increase the $25,000 maximum payment to wrongly convicted people, which has been the rate since the 1970s. In the Hicks case, he said, it doesn't even amount to minimum wage for the time he spent in prison.

In pursuing his claim, Hicks got help from an unexpected source - Dane County Deputy District Attorney Judy Schwaemle, who prosecuted his case. Schwaemle wrote to the board and testified to it in support of Hicks' claim. Hicks said he is grateful for her help and isn't bitter about her aggressive prosecution of his case because he would expect the same if his own daughter were the victim of such a crime. But he wonders why her words didn't come sooner.

In recent years, Hicks has been co-chairman of a group called the National Exonerees Council, which consists of about a dozen wrongly convicted people who try to help others like them adjust to life outside prison. "We've become like brothers, and we understand one another," Hicks said.

Even though he's been out of prison the longest of those in the group, Hicks said his experience still lingers. "We're all still scarred, no matter how long we've been out," Hicks said. He tries to remain strong for his family, he said, and keep it under the surface - a "macho thing," he calls it - but sometimes when he's alone he finds himself crying.

Hicks has also continued working as a driver for United Parcel Service, his employer since 1996. He started with the firm in Middleton and transferred to Houston, when his family decided to move in order to get a fresh start. He said he's very grateful for the company's support. Hicks said he has many other people to thank for his release from prison and for his life, particularly his wife, Denise, and his father, Earl. "I don't know where I would be without the two of them," Hicks said.

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