STORY: "DC agrees to $4.3M settlement with
man wrongly convicted of murder," by reporter Paul Wagner, published by Fox 5 News (WTTG) on August 4, 2016.
SUB-HEADING: "The last of five D.C. men exonerated for crimes they did not commit has settled a lawsuit filed against the city."
GIST:
"The last of five D.C. men exonerated for crimes they did not commit
has settled a lawsuit filed against the city. A court document obtained
by FOX 5 shows Kevin Martin has been paid $4.3 million. Martin was
cleared by DNA after the U.S. Attorney’s office reviewed the case
against him and found he had been prosecuted with now discredited hair
analysis conducted by the FBI. He was given a certificate of actual
innocence in July of 2014.
Martin,
who now lives in San Francisco, spent 26 years in prison for the murder
of a woman in 1982. Although he maintained his innocence, Martin took
an Alford plea in 1984 after prosecutors told his attorney they found a
pubic hair on the victim that was a match to martin. The
then-teenager admitted to committing robberies but denied being
involved in the murder. DNA testing later determined martin was not
involved in the rape and killing of 19-year-old Ursula Brown. Instead,
the DNA pointed to another man, William Davidson, who is now serving 65
years to life. In a statement from Robert Marus, with the office of the D.C. Attorney General, he said:
“Mr.
Martin's lawsuit was filed pursuant to the District's Unjust
Imprisonment Act, and it is one of several similar cases we have settled
recently. In each of these cases, the plaintiffs served significant
time in prison for crimes they did not commit -- a horrible and unjust
experience for which they rightly should be compensated. However, we
also have to be concerned about the health of the District's fisc. In
this fiscal year alone, the District of Columbia has agreed to pay more
than $50 million to settle five lawsuits brought under the Unjust
Imprisonment Act. These are cases in which the plaintiffs were
prosecuted by the federal government, not the District. And in most of
these cases, the key evidence on which federal prosecutors relied was
now-discredited FBI analysis of hair samples. The federal government,
not the District, was responsible for that faulty analysis. Yet, current
law allows judges to award uncapped damages from the District, while
federal law caps damages in these cases at $50,000 per year of
imprisonment.” Four other men, Cleveland Wright, Santae
Tribble, Kirk Odom and Donald Gates, have all been given certificates of
actual innocence and won monetary awards. Three of the men spent time
in prison for murder while Odom was incarcerated for a rape he did not
commit."
The entire story can be found at the link below:
http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/185337058-story
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses
several thousand posts.
The search box is located near the bottom of
the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this
powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and
myself get more out of the site.
The
Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty
incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the
harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into
pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology
system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent
stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Please
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