A jury has awarded $16 million to a Philadelphia man whose murder conviction was overturned after he spent 25 years on death row — the largest wrongful conviction payout in city history. (article available here).
James Dennis, 53, always insisted he was innocent and had been sentenced to death for a 1991 murder he did not commit.
A federal judge overturned his conviction in 2013, calling it a “grave miscarriage of justice,” saying detectives and prosecutors covered up evidence that proved Dennis didn't commit the crime. He was later released from prison.
After a nine-day trial, jurors said Dennis was owed $16 million — $10 million in compensatory damages from the city, and $3 million from each of the two detectives who the jury determined “engaged in malicious or wanton misconduct.”