Exonerated man accused in new murder still owed $673K by state for wrongful conviction, records say

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A man once serving a life sentence and later found innocent finds himself back behind bars and charged again with murder.

Records show Lydell Grant is owed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state and will continue getting paid while his new murder charge plays out in court.

He will only stop getting paid if he’s convicted.

Houston police arrested Grant last week for murder, accused of killing Edwin Arevalo, 33, in a road rage shooting on Hiram Clarke.

A judge set his bond at $1 million.

Grant is the same man who made national headlines after he was exonerated for a murder he was sentenced to life for.

He was convicted of fatally stabbing 28-year-old Aaron Scheerhoorn at a Montrose bar in 2010. He spent seven years behind bars before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declared his innocence in 2021.

DNA testing didn’t match, and a new suspect linked to the crime confessed.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, Grant is owed $673,333 for the wrongful conviction.

According to Cassandra Jeu with the Texas Innocence Network at the University of Houston Law Center, Texas makes annual payments, so Grant has yet to receive all of it. Jeu says he will keep getting paid for the wrongful conviction while the recent case plays out in court unless there is a conviction through a plea bargain or trial.

“Texas is the most generous state when it comes to a compensation statute of the entire United States,” Jeu said. “It provides $80,000 for every year the person has been in prison and $25,000 a year for every year the person has been on probation, parole, or sex registry.”

If Grant is convicted, Jeu says the statute does not require him to pay the money back he already received.

The Innocence Project of Texas played a significant role in proving Grant’s innocence.

In a statement to, a spokesperson with the Innocence Project of Texas wrote in part:

“We are saddened by the news of this tragic event and our thoughts and sympathies go out to the victim’s family. As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment on the specifics of this incident. We stand behind Mr. Grant’s previous exoneration, which was granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.”