May 15, 2021 - 6:07 PM
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) â A jury in a North Carolina federal civil rights case has awarded $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 received $31 million each in compensatory damages, $1 million for every year spent in prison, The News & Observer reported. The jury also awarded them $13 million in punitive damages.reported
âThe first jury to hear all of the evidence â including the wrongly suppressed evidence â found Henry and Leon to be innocent, found them to have been demonstrably and excruciatingly wronged, and has done what the law can do to make it right at this late date,â Raleigh attorney Elliot Abrams said after the trial.
North Carolina jury awards $75m to brothers wrongly convicted of 1983 murder
Henry McCollum and Leon Brown spent decades in jail before DNA evidence cleared them of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl
Henry McCollum after his release from prison in 2014. He and Leon Brown have been awarded $75m over their wrongful conviction for a 1983 murder. Photograph: Michael Biesecker/AP
Henry McCollum after his release from prison in 2014. He and Leon Brown have been awarded $75m over their wrongful conviction for a 1983 murder. Photograph: Michael Biesecker/AP
TheAssociatedPress
Sat 15 May 2021 20.02 EDT
A jury in a North Carolina federal civil rights case has awarded $75m to two, 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.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) A jury in a North Carolina federal civil rights case has awarded $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 […]
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