Certificate of Innocence in Oregon: Filing, Proof, and Awards

A certificate of innocence in Oregon is obtained by filing a civil petition for compensation under ORS 30.657 in circuit court, proving factual innocence by a preponderance of the evidence, and receiving a judgment that both declares the wrongful conviction and awards damages. For petitions filed between July 1, 2026 and July 1, 2027, the award is $72,800 for each year of wrongful imprisonment, plus $28,000 for each year of post-release supervision or sex offender registration. You have two years from your exoneration to file.

Who Can Petition

You qualify if you were convicted of a crime, served time in an Oregon correctional facility, and then had the conviction reversed or vacated, or were found not guilty on retrial. The statute also covers juvenile adjudications for acts committed before age 18 that resulted in at least one year of placement with the Oregon Youth Authority or the Department of Corrections.¹

The core requirement is factual innocence. You must show you did not actually commit the crime, and that you did not commit any lesser included offenses connected to the original charge. A reversal based solely on a legal technicality is not enough. The statute specifically says that a conviction overturned only because it was obtained through a non-unanimous jury verdict does not, by itself, establish factual innocence for compensation purposes.¹ You will still need independent evidence of innocence.

You also cannot have intentionally contributed to your own conviction through perjury or a fabricated confession. A confession coerced by law enforcement does not disqualify you.

The Two-Year Deadline

You have two years to file. The clock starts on whichever of these happens last: the date the criminal charges against you are dismissed, the date of a not-guilty verdict on retrial, or the date a governor’s pardon is granted.¹ Miss it and you likely lose the right to seek compensation under this statute. If your conviction was recently overturned, calendar the deadline immediately and talk to an attorney.

Where to File and What It Costs

You can file in the Circuit Court for Marion County or in the circuit court for the county where you were originally convicted. The choice is yours.¹

Because the petition is a civil action and the amount in controversy will typically exceed $50,000, the filing fee is $594 under Oregon’s current circuit court fee schedule.² If you cannot afford it, you can apply for a fee waiver or deferral through the court clerk under ORS 21.682.

Your petition should set out the original conviction, the date it was reversed or vacated, the date charges were dismissed, and the time you served. Certified copies of the court orders and transcripts documenting the exoneration are the backbone of your evidence.

Serving the Attorney General and District Attorney

After filing, you must serve the petition on the Attorney General, who represents the state in these proceedings. You must also mail a copy to the District Attorney for the county of conviction.¹ File proof of service with the court. Follow the Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure for service; without proper service, the case does not move.

What You Have to Prove

The petition proceeds as a civil action, so the Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure and the Oregon Evidence Code apply.¹ You carry the burden of proof at the preponderance standard: the judge must find it more likely than not that you are factually innocent.

The court can accept declarations, depositions, oral testimony, trial transcripts, and documents from any proceeding related to your conviction, reversal, or retrial. The statute also directs the court to give due consideration to proof difficulties caused by the passage of time, death or unavailability of witnesses, destruction of evidence, or other factors outside your control.¹ That flexibility helps with old cases, but it does not lower your overall burden.

If the Attorney General contests the petition, there will be a contested hearing. If the state does not contest, the court still has to make independent findings before entering judgment.

How Much the Court Awards

If you prove your claim, the judgment pays at two rates that are adjusted each year for inflation:

$72,800 for each year of wrongful incarceration, for petitions filed between July 1, 2026 and July 1, 2027.
$28,000 for each additional year on parole or post-prison supervision, or each year you were required to register as a sex offender, whichever is greater.

The rates started at $65,000 and $25,000 and are adjusted each year by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, West Region, with the annual increase capped at three percent. The State Court Administrator publishes the updated figures before July 1 each year, and new rates apply to petitions filed on or after that date.³ Partial years are paid proportionally.

As an example, 10 years in prison followed by 5 years of post-prison supervision would come to $728,000 plus $140,000, for a total of $868,000 at the 2026 rates.

What Reduces or Blocks a Payout

Several limits are built into the statute:

No punitive damages are available, regardless of the circumstances of the wrongful conviction.¹
You cannot be compensated for any period during which you were simultaneously serving a lawful sentence on a separate conviction.¹
If you have already won a judgment or settlement from a public body in a separate civil action tied to the same wrongful conviction, the economic damages from that award, minus your litigation costs, attorney fees, and expert fees, are deducted from your compensation.¹

The setoff matters if you are also considering a federal civil rights lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Money collected there can reduce what you recover under ORS 30.657, so the sequence of claims is worth thinking through with counsel before you file either one.

Reentry Services the Court Can Order

The court may also order access to existing state and local programs. These can include counseling, housing assistance, eligibility for state medical assistance, educational support, job training, legal help with regaining custody of children, food and transportation assistance, and personal financial literacy programs. The Department of Corrections may provide reentry services while the petition is pending and after judgment.

Appeals

Either side can appeal the circuit court’s judgment to the Oregon Court of Appeals under ORS chapter 19. If the state appeals, the Attorney General continues to represent it. If you appeal, you must serve notice on both the Attorney General and the District Attorney for the county of conviction, and your notice of appeal must state that the case is subject to ORS 30.657.¹ Flagging the statute in the notice avoids procedural problems down the line.

1
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 30.657 – Petition for Compensation for Wrongful Conviction
2
Oregon Judicial Department. 2026 Circuit Court Fee Schedule
3
Oregon Judicial Department. Wrongful Conviction Compensation Annual Adjustments