A pair of African-American half-brothers in North Carolina accused of sexually assaulting and killing an 11-year-old girl in 1983 have been vindicated after 31 years in prison, and a jury has awarded them $84 million (about NT$2.35 billion) in a federal civil rights lawsuit.
Defense attorney Des Hogan told AFP, “This is the largest jury verdict for wrongful conviction in U.S. history.”
Henry Lee McCollum and Leon Brown, intellectually disabled brothers then aged 19 and 15 respectively in 1983, were accused of sexually assaulting and killing an 11-year-old girl, insisting they were forced by police to sign confessions they could not understand.
It wasn’t until 2014 that DNA evidence was found to show that the real killer was another man at the scene, and the previous guilty verdict was overturned.
McCarren and Brown filed a federal civil rights lawsuit after being rehabilitated from wrongful imprisonment, and the jury awarded them $84 million in damages, punitive damages and interest on the verdict on the 14th.
Hogan said, “The jury sent a message that the old days of ignoring the rights of poor people, people of color, marginalized people in rural areas, are over.”
“They are thrilled with the win and happy that the jury found the sheriff guilty of wrongdoing and proved their innocence.”
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