A D.C. man whose murder conviction was thrown out more than a year ago
finally received his certificate of actual innocence on Friday.
Cleveland Wright was sent to prison for 28 years on hair analysis
prosecutors now admit was false. In 1979,
prosecutors charged Wright and Santae Tribble with the murders of two
men carried out 13 days apart. The theory was they were stick-up men
working together. But at his trial, Wright was convicted of one murder
and acquitted in the other. The same thing happened to Tribble. Years
later in 2012, DNA testing on hair evidence used at trial exonerated
both men. Tibble received his certificate, while Wright kept waiting. In
both pleadings to the court, prosecutors used slightly different
language on whether to grant Tribble and Wright certificates of actual
innocence. In Tribble's, prosecutors wrote it "does not oppose it,”
while in Wright's, they said the government "takes no position.” With
the issuance of his certificate of actual innocence, Wright, 57,
becomes eligible to be compensated fro the decades he spent behind
bars-- at a rate of $50,000 per year for every year he was locked up. He
had been waiting for the judge in the case to issue her findings in
order to receive the money from the government. D.C. Superior Court Judge Laura Cordero issued Wright's certificate of actual innocence, which reads in part: "Based
on the entire record in this mater, including the new evidence before
this court, the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that Mr.
Wright did not commit the crimes of first-degree murder while armed,
first-degree felony murder and armed robbery of Mr. Horn, of which he
was convicted in this case."
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/29141117/cleveland-wright-innocenc
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