Brothers wrongfully convicted of murder awarded $75 million after each serving 31 years in prison



Category: Wrongful Convictions

More Info: Personal Injury Loans

Two North Carolina men who were wrongfully convicted in a rape and murder of an 11-year-old were awarded $75 million total in compensatory damages Friday, according to the Associated Press.

Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, who each spent 31 years in jail for a crime they did not commit, were each awarded $1 million for every year spent in prison. In addition to the $31 million each, the eight-person jury awarded them $13 million in punitive damages, the News & Observer reports.

McCollum and Brown are half-brothers, who had low IQs when they were questioned by police about the incident. McCollum was 19 and Brown was 15. McCollum was sentenced to death, becoming the longest-serving inmate on North Carolina’s death row. Brown was sentenced to life in prison.

More than three decades after they were convicted of the rape and death of Sabrina Buie in 1983, new DNA evidence showed another man was responsible.

See the 10 Biggest Settlements Paid to Innocent People

The two were coerced into confessing to Buie’s rape and murder, their defense attorneys said in 2015, when a judge vacated their convictions and they were released from prison.

Governor Pat McCrory granted them pardons and they were each awarded $750,000 for the time they spent behind bars.

Shortly after, the brothers began pursuing a federal civil rights case, according to the News & Observer. Their lawyers argued misconduct by the police and that law enforcement coerced confessions, suppressed and fabricated evidence, investigated the crime in bad faith, and ignored evidence that linked to another suspect.

More wrongful conviction information you may be interested in:

Continue reading...

See the original article here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/henry-mccollum-leon-brown-75-million-wrongful-conviction-settlement/


About TriMark Legal Funding

TriMark Legal Funding was founded in 2003 and is one of America's leading national lawsuit funding companies. TriMark provides pre-settlement funding and post-settlement funding, sometimes called 'lawsuit loans', to injured plaintiffs throughout the United States. We offer funding on hundreds of different types of legal claims including personal injury loans, employment litigation funding, work injury accident loans, workers compensation loans, mass tort litigation funding, and multidistrict litigation funding.

We also provide immediate inheritance advance funding for heirs and beneficiaries, as well as attorney funding and law firm financing for legal practices.

Personal Injury Lawsuits Mass Torts

Click here to see the original article.