Greg Taylor has asked the governor for a pardon that would clear the way for him to collect compensation for 17 years of wrongful imprisonment.

Taylor, 47, was exonerated last month by three judges who determined he was innocent.

A Wake County jury convicted Taylor in 1993 of murdering Jacquetta Thomas, a woman whose battered body was abandoned in an isolated cul-de-sac in Southeast Raleigh. Faulty blood evidence and wrong testimony from a jailhouse informant and a prostitute had helped convict Taylor.

A pardon from the governor would clear the way for Taylor to collect $750,000, the most any wrongfully accused person can receive. Without the pardon, he cannot apply for the money.

Gov. Bev Perdue said today that Taylor is entitled to compensation from the state, though she did not commit to the pardon.

Speaking with reporters at an economic development announcement in Winston-Salem, Perdue said she has not yet received Taylor's request for a pardon but said she is "deeply troubled" that another N.C. inmate had been wrongly imprisoned.

"The man was done wrong and the state and country have a responsibility to right that wrong," Perdue said. "You couldn't sell me 17 years of my life for $800,000. Whatever the man is owed by the state of North Carolina, I will work aggressively to make sure he gets."

Since his release, Taylor has been trying to get his life in order. He's been spending time with family and friends and trying to make sense of a world that left him behind following his arrest more than 19 years ago. He is learning to text and take photos with a digital camera and has set up a Facebook page.

mandy.locke@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8927