DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan appeals court says a law compensating people who were wrongly convicted doesn’t cover time spent in pre-trial custody.

Davontae Sanford is seeking money for 198 days spent in a juvenile facility before he was convicted and sentenced for murder in 1988. His convictions were overturned after more than eight years in prison, and he was paid $408,000.

But the appeals court says state law makes no reference to compensating people for being locked up without bond before trial. The time can be substantial. For Sanford, 198 days would be worth an additional $27,000.

The appeals court says the “plain language of the statute is unambiguous.”