DALLAS (AP) – When Michael Blair was sent to death row for the murder of a 7-year-old Texas girl, he insisted he never killed anyone. More than a decade later, genetic testing showed he was telling the truth.

But while he was in prison, Blair confessed to raping two other children _ a crime for which he received consecutive life sentences. Now he says he deserves nearly $1 million in compensation for being wrongfully imprisoned in the murder case.

His request has gone all the way to the Texas Supreme Court, which heard the case last month. The state comptroller has repeatedly denied Blair’s claim, which a state attorney recently called “absurd.”

Blair’s attorney says the law that compensates exonerated inmates doesn’t specifically exclude someone like his client.

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