An artistic phenomenon that has spent 46 years in prison for a wrongful conviction will receive $ 1.5 million

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But after another man confessed to the murder, the Michigan native was exonerated and released from prison last March.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that Phillips would receive $ 1.5 million in compensation for time spent behind bars.

Phillips is entitled to a maximum of $ 50,000 per year of imprisonment, in accordance with the Michigan Unjustified Imprisonment Act. The money is not taxed, and he will not lose anything from them because of legal fees, his lawyer, Gabi Silver, told CNN.

The payment of $ 1.5 million covers about three decades of his prison term as he has also served a prison sentence for a conviction for armed robbery.

Silver says she's still fighting the conviction for armed robbery. If Phillips is exonerated from this charge, his home trips could be even better.

"It's good news, and it was absolutely the right thing to do," said Wayne County Attorney Kym Worthy in a statement. "This compensation will not bring back the 45 years that he has purely and simply spent in jail, but I sincerely hope that it will bring him a well deserved and fulfilling quality of life."

At 73, he begins a new life in a new world

Richard Phillips, now 73, was only 27 years old when he was arrested. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 1972 without the possibility of parole.

At the time, Richard Nixon was in the reelection race against Senator George McGovern as President.

Michael Jackson's "Ben" and Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" were in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100. And the Detroit auto factories, where Phillips worked, were dynamic.

In four decades, the world has changed in a profound and banal way.

After his release last year, he was surprised by the number of orange juice varieties currently in the grocery aisles.

His belief was based on false testimony

Phillips was initially convicted of murder for dragging a man named Gregory Harris out of his car and shooting him. The victim's brother-in-law told the investigators that he had met Phillips at a bar to discuss the murder.

But Phillips has maintained his innocence. He told his lawyer, "I would rather die in jail than to confess a murder that I did not commit."

In 2010, another man, Richard Polombo, confessed to killing Harris. Four years later, the Innocence Clinic of the University of Michigan Law School was informed of Polombo's admission. After years of litigation, Phillips got a new trial at the end of 2017.

He became a free man in March 2018.

The prison walls could not contain his creative spirit

Behind bars, Phillips began painting in 1990 "to avoid loneliness," says his artistic website. "He painted to fill the long days He painted to keep his heart sweet and keep hope."

His paintings became custom greeting cards that he sold to other inmates. He used the product to buy more art supplies.

His watercolors often address themes of hope and survival.

With a modernist twist, he depicts floral scenes, landscapes, musicians and also explores the world of the abstract. For nearly 30 years, he has created a vast body of work that is now on sale.

Silver said Phillips was currently renting an apartment, but hoped to buy a small house with the new money coming in and enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

Silver says one of those hopes is that Phillips wants to get a German Shepherd puppy.

"He's pretty well adjusted, he says he's not bitter," Silver said.

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