BATON ROUGE - A House committee halted a Shreveport lawmaker's bid to relax the legal definition under which a person wrongfully convicted of murder in Louisiana could receive state compensation.

The panel struggled with the proposal to rework the definition of "factual innocence" in current compensation law. Those against the measure said it could allow someone who committed, but was not charged with, a serious crime to sue for state money.

Democratic Rep. Cedric Glover said not making a change continues to unfairly penalize exonerated inmates by allowing courts to deny money if they committed any offense, including those not tied to a murder.

The House criminal justice committee voted 9-6 against the measure Wednesday, killing the bill. Glover says he plans to bring it back next year.