Two brothers who spent decades on death row are awarded $75 million in damages after DNA evidence cleared them of 1983 rape and murder of 11-year-old girl
A jury decided Henry McCollum and Leon Brown should received $31 million each in compensatory damages, $1 million for every year spent in prison
The eight person jury also awarded them $13 million in punitive damages
The two were released from prison in 2014 after DNA evidence that pointed to a convicted murderer exonerated them over the death of Sabrina Buie
Attorneys for the men have said they were scared teenagers who had low IQs when they were questioned by police and coerced into confessing
A jury in a North Carolina federal civil rights case has awarded US$75 million to two black, intellectually disabled half-brothers who spent decades behind bars after being wrongfully convicted in the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
The eight-person jury on Friday decided Henry McCollum and Leon Brown should receive US$31 million each in compensatory damages, US$1 million for every year spent in prison, the News & Observer reported.
The jury also awarded them US$13 million in punitive damages.
“The first jury to hear all of the evidence including the wrongly suppressed evidence found Henry and Leon to
A jury in North Carolina has awarded $75 million to two Black men with intellectual disabilities who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in 1983.The News & Observer reports that an eight-person jury decided after around five hours of deliberation on Friday that half brothers Henry McCollum and Leon Brown should be awarded $31 million each, $1 million for every year they spent in.