Post by IPKISS (@ipkiss)

Steven Phillips lost everything in 1982 including his new roofing business, he had started and left behind a pregnant wife.

Convicted of cr+mes of another man and was locked away for 24 years for it and his wife Traci stood with him at first and even testified for him but then eventually the marriage d+ed down.

She divorced him in 1992 and moved on with her life while he sat in a cell for something he never did.

Then in 2008, DNA testing exposed the truth. The real perpetrator was identified. Phillips walked out an innocent man, and Texas paid him a compensation package worth nearly $6 million for the life they stole from him.

And when that happened, Traci sued him, arguing she deserved a cut because some of those prison years overlapped with their marriage.

And here's the part that shocked everyone: a judge initially agreed, awarding her over $114,000 of his money. Her position was simple. "He was a victim of a wrongful justice system, and his family was also."

Phillips refused to accept it. He appealed. And in 2014, the Texas Court of Appeals shut the door completely. The compensation was for the man who sat in the cell, the court ruled, and the law provides nothing for an exoneree's former spouse. She walked away with zero from his award.

After 24 years of fighting the state for his freedom, he had to fight one more battle just to keep what his suffering earned. And he won both.

She supported him for 10 years, raised his son alone, then divorced him and came back when the money arrived.

Was she a loyal woman who earned a share of those stolen years, or does that $6 million belong to the man who did the time and nobody else?

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