Attorney: Governor signs bill to pay freed Rancho Penasquitos man $756,900

By: SCOTT MARSHALL - Staff Writer | Thursday, March 23, 2006 11:01 PM PST ∞

NORTH COUNTY ---- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Thursday a bill that authorizes the state to pay a Rancho Penasquitos man $756,900 for the 21 years he spent in prison after being wrongfully convicted of killing his then-girlfriend's toddler son, the man's attorney said Thursday night.

Kenneth Morgan Marsh, 50, whose second-degree murder conviction was set aside in 2004, said Thursday night by telephone that news that the governor had signed the bill ---- the last step before the state can issue a check ---- was "fantastic."

"I can't believe it's finally happening," Marsh said.

Marsh's attorney, Donnie Cox, said he hopes the state will issue a check to Marsh within the next 30 days.

"It's now official," Cox said. "Ken has not only been exonerated, but the state has agreed to pay him."

Marsh was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the April 27, 1983, death of Philip Buell, the nearly 3-year-old son of Marsh's girlfriend at the time, Brenda Buell Warter. A new medical evaluation of the case in 2004 prompted authorities to release Marsh from prison, and prosecutors declined to retry him.

Warter, who believed in Marsh's innocence, married him after his release from prison.

The state's Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board in January adopted the report of its hearing officer, who wrote that Marsh had proved he was not guilty of murder. The hearing officer also concluded that Philip had an undiagnosed blood disorder and that a doctor administered the drug mannitol to him, both of which contributed to his death.

State law allows freed prison inmates to submit claims for up to $100 for each day they spent in prison for a crime that did not occur or that they did not commit. Marsh spent 7,569 days in prison.

Marsh said Thursday that the amount he receives for the time he spent behind bars actually will be less than $100 a day because of the money he has had to spend to travel to attend hearings and for attorneys to handle his case.

Cox said Marsh's attorneys worked for reduced fees to maximize the amount Marsh would receive.

After he receives the money, Marsh said he and his wife "plan on relocating somewhere" because there are "a lot of bad memories here in San Diego."

Warter said Thursday night that she wanted to "thank God and all the angels."

"They are the ones who made it all happen," she said.

Marsh praised attorneys from the California Innocence Project who worked on his case, Justin Brooks and Jeff Chin, and the state lawmakers who worked on the bill to compensate him, Sen. Kevin Murray and Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, and their staffs.

Contact staff writer Scott Marshall at (760) 631-6623 or smarshall@nctimes.com.

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