On January 25, 2008, the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) agreed to pay $2,300 to a man who was detained beyond his release date.
Cecil Dudgeon was supposed to be released on May 13, 2005; however, he was kept 50 days longer.
Dudgeon filed a tort claim seeking $88,500 for ...
by David M. Reutter
The disparity in compensation awards for prisoners exonerated by DNA evidence in Georgia demonstrates the need for evenhanded compensation laws.
Five wrongly convicted prisoners, Clarence Harrison, Robert Clark, Douglas Echols, Samuel Scott and Willie Otis “Pete” Williams, spent a combined 82 years in Georgia prisons for crimes they didn’t commit. All were proven innocent by DNA evidence.
Three of those five received compensation from the state – Harrison, who served 17 years for the abduction, robbery and rape of a woman waiting for a bus; Clark, who served almost 24 years for rape, kidnapping and robbery; and Williams, who served 21 years for kidnapping, rape and aggravated sodomy before being exonerated in 2007.
Harrison, who was 44 when released from prison in 2004, was awarded $1 million by state lawmakers. Clark re-ceived $1.2 million after the Georgia legislature passed a resolution approving the payment in March 2007. He had contracted hepatitis C while in prison. Williams was awarded $1.2 million in compensation.
“Can you even fathom in your wildest imagination what it must be like for this man to lose his entire adult life, until now, incarcerated in prison, literally excommunicated from free society, beat down ...
Nearly six years after his release from prison, Antoine Goff received a measure of belated justice – a $2.9 million settlement for almost 13 years of wrongful incarceration. Goff and his co-plaintiff, John “J.J.” Tennison, had filed complaints under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 that alleged numerous Brady violations [Brady v. ...
by David M. Reutter
After 35 years of proclaiming his innocence for the kidnapping and rape of a 9-year-old boy, James Bain, 54, was finally proven innocent and released from a Florida prison on December 17, 2009.
Of the 246 prisoners nationwide exonerated by DNA evidence, Bain served the most time, according to the Innocence Project of Florida.
At the time of the 1974 crime, the victim said his attacker had bushy sideburns and a mustache. The boy’s uncle, a former assistant principal at a local high school, thought it sounded like Bain, one of his former students.
Confronted by detectives with a photo lineup, the victim identified Bain. Questions remain as to whether the detectives steered the child to make an incorrect identification. In a subsequent deposition, the victim said he was asked to “pick out Jimmie Bain” among the photos.
Evidentiary testing available at the time failed to definitively link Bain to the crime. Despite that fact the jury rejected his alibi de-fense, supported by his twin sister, that he was home watching TV. Following his conviction Bain was sentenced to life in prison.
After four of his pro se petitions seeking DNA testing were thrown out by ...
On December 22, 2005, the County of Sacramento agreed to pay $1,000 to settle a claim by a man who was erroneously held seven days beyond his sentence.
Don Daniel was scheduled to be released from RCCC Correctional Center, but was held an additional seven days because jail staff believed ...
By Brandon Sample
On June 7, 2004, the County of Sacramento agreed to pay $2,219.01 to settle a false imprisonment claim by a man who was arrested while attempting to visit a prisoner at the Sacramento Main Jail (SMJ).
Darren Thompson was arrested when he went to visit a friend ...
A New York State Jury awarded $10,000 in a lawsuit for false arrest and imprisonment.
Rames Polanco was detained by police officers of the city of New York on September 9, 2003, under suspicion of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Polanco was taken to the precinct, where he was told ...
Washington State’s Pierce County Correction Center paid $1,000 to settle a prisoner’s claim for unlawful imprisonment.
On January 31, 2002, Mr. Ted D. Harris was arrested and released on bail after he served twenty-two days.
Harris was arrested on February 11, 2004. Twelve days later he entered a plea. For ...
The City of New York paid $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a man who spent nine months in jail after being falsely accused of selling Ecstasy to an undercover officer.
The plaintiff, a taxi driver in his late 20s, was arrested for making the sale to the ...
Washington State’s Pierce County paid $2,500 to settle a claim for violation of civil rights and misplacing a vehicle.
For no apparent reason, Officer J. Billings of the Steilacoom Police department activated his emergency police lights and pulled over Byron Burris. Billings approached Burris’s vehicle as Burris exited his. Billings ...
