Story highlights Lawrence McKinney was convicted of rape and burglary charges and sentenced to 115 years in jail 
 
 Tennessee's governor must exonerate McKinney for him to be eligible to receive up to $1 million in compensation 
 
 Board of Parole would not recommend him for exoneration 
 
 (CNN) A Tennessee man who served 31 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit is petitioning the state to compensate him $1 million for the years of his life that were taken away. All he's gotten so far is $75. 
 
 In October 1977 a Memphis woman was raped in her home by two intruders. She later identified one of them as her neighbor, Lawrence McKinney, who was 22 at the time. He was convicted on rape and burglary charges in 1978 and sentenced to 115 years in jail. 
 
 DNA evidence cleared him of the charges in 2008, and when he was released in 2009, the Tennessee Department of Corrections gave him a $75 check to restart his life. 
 
 "Because I had no ID it took me three months before I was able to cash it," McKinney told CNN. 
 
 Now the 61-year-old is asking Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam to exonerate him. The Tennessee Board of Parole, which makes recommendations to the governor, denied McKinney's request by a 7-0 vote at a hearing in September. 
 
 Read More ||||| LEBANON, Tennessee -- These days, Lawrence McKinney can’t seem to stay still. The 60-year old has spent enough time sitting in one place. 
 
 A Memphis, Tennessee, jury convicted McKinney of rape and burglary in 1978. The victim identified him as one of the two men who attacked her in her bedroom. He was sentenced to 115 years. 
 
 When he was convicted, McKinney recalled, “I still could not believe it because I thought it was a dream or something.” 
 
 In 2008, DNA testing of evidence scientifically excluded McKinney as a suspect. Prosecutors said, “if this evidence had been available ... there would have been no prosecution.” 
 
 CBS News 
 
 McKinney was released and given $75 in 2009, after more than 31 years and nine months. 
 
 “I don’t have no life, all my life was taken away,” he said. 
 
 Since then, McKinney has depended on odd jobs at his church just to pay the bills. Under Tennessee law he could be eligible for up to $1 million in compensation. But the parole board, which hears such cases, has rejected his request twice. 
 
 “In an exoneration hearing we have to have a lot of evidence, clear and convincing,” said Patsy Bruce, who served on Tennessee’s parole board for 12 years and heard McKinney’s first exoneration case. 
 
 When asked why the judgments of the judge and district attorney weren’t convincing enough, she replied, “Because they didn’t notice that they didn’t test everything ordered by the original judge to be tested.” 
 
 Prosecutors say the two samples not tested either had no DNA or were so degraded tests could not be performed. 
 
 “I have not been convinced he is innocent,” Bruce said. 
 
 “It is not justice for him not to receive compensation for being wrongfully imprisoned,” said Jack Lowery, McKinney’s lawyer. 
 
 Lowery has appealed the case to Gov. Bill Haslam, who has the final say. 
 
 “There has been one mistake made that sent him to prison. I trust that another is not made that does not allow him exoneration,” Lowery said. 
 
 Haslam’s decision could come at any moment. After waiting 31 years for his freedom, McKinney’s says he can wait a little longer.
– Lawrence McKinney spent 31 years and nine months in prison before DNA evidence cleared him and set him free in 2009. Now, McKinney is seeking the $1 million he is entitled to under Tennessee law for all of those lost years. "I don’t have no life, all my life was taken away," McKinney, 61, tells CBS News. McKinney was convicted of rape and burglary in 1978. His neighbor claimed McKinney, then 22, was one of two men who attacked her in her bedroom. When a Memphis jury pronounced him guilty, "I still could not believe it because I thought it was a dream or something." He was sentenced to 115 years in prison. McKinney tells CNN that when he walked out of prison a free man, he was handed a check for $75, a check he couldn't cash for three months until he got an ID. Since then, he has relied on odd jobs at his church to make ends meet. The problem is that the Tennessee parole board has twice rejected his bid for formal exoneration, which would open the door to compensation. A former board member tells CBS she is not convinced McKinney is innocent, even though prosecutors in 2008 said that if DNA testing had been available at the time of the crime, "there would have been no prosecution." McKinney's lawyer is appealing the matter to Gov. Bill Haslam. For his part, McKinney says he is not angry about those lost decades. He married a prison pen pal and attends Bible study most nights. "All I ask is that I be treated right and fair for what has happened to me," he tells CNN. "I didn't do nothing, and I just want to be treated right." (Cleared of rape, this man spent half his life in prison.)