My nominees for the 2009 Dallas Morning News Texans of the Year are the 60 men who have been wrongfully imprisoned in this state and who have subsequently been proven innocent by DNA evidence. Their resilience in the face of adversity, as well as the issues that their stories raised about our flawed criminal justice system, are the reasons that I have chosen to nominate these men for this distinction.

During the 2009 legislative session, I had the opportunity to meet several exonerees at the committee hearing on HB 1736, a bill that I, along with my Texas House and Senate colleagues, passed to increase services and compensation to these innocent men who were wrongfully imprisoned. The exonerees are men of incredible character who steadfastly maintained their innocence in the face of a system that had failed them, despite offers of lighter sentences in exchange for a confession of guilt.

A demonstration of strength in the face of adversity is one qualification for Texan of the Year, and there are few situations more difficult than being deprived of your freedom as a result of a wrongful imprisonment. Or having a wrongfully convicted son die in prison.

Nothing can right the wrong that was committed against Tim Cole, the 17-year-old Texas Tech student who went to jail an innocent man and died in prison 13 years later. HB 1736, named the Tim Cole Act, will allow his survivors to receive payments that would have gone to Mr. Cole's estate, although no amount of money can restore a son to his mother or ease the pain of her loss.

Few of us can imagine the horror of being imprisoned, much less convicted, for a heinous crime we did not commit. Yet it struck me while listening to the testimony of the exonerees that they were without bitterness, acrimony or anger. One by one, each man told his story in a calm, sometimes emotional manner. But all that was asked of committee members was simple justice. These men each had a life destroyed and, although it will never be possible to make them whole, they just asked to be given the means to start over.

In the case of Billy Smith, who served almost 20 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, when he was released from prison, he had no job skills, no education and had lost the chance to start a family. Charles Chatman, who served nearly 27 years for a rape he did not commit, went to jail at 20 and has spent more of his life in a Texas prison than as a free man. Wiley Fountain found it virtually impossible to get a job after his release and wound up living homeless behind a liquor store in Dallas.

Their gratitude at the passage of the bill overwhelmed me and my staff; it never occurred to them to be demanding or to adopt an air of entitlement, however justified that would be.

Increasing exoneree compensation does not solve the bigger issue – that it is questionable whether these men would have been convicted if the criminal justice system had not relied upon unreliable eyewitnesses, interrogation techniques that lack oversight and other serious flaws that clearly need to be addressed at the legislative level.

These amazingly resilient exonerees could teach all of us a lesson about facing adversity. Their strength is my inspiration.

Rafael Anchia of Dallas represents District 103 in the Texas House. His e-mail address is rafael.anchia@house.state.tx.us.