In a case with high-powered lawyers that’s drawn interest from high levels, justices on the Texas Supreme Court were told the Texas comptroller must compensate a man who was wrongfully convicted and jailed on death row.

In one corner, representing exoneree Alfred Dewayne Brown, was former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, arguing his former colleagues should order the comptroller to do his ministerial duty and compensate Brown. On the other side, Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins was fighting for Texas Comptroller Glenn Hagar, whose office denied compensation after questioning if a trial court had jurisdiction to declare Brown actually innocent.