An American will receive $ 9 million for mistakenly spending a year in prison 21

James Owens from Baltimore (Maryland) spent 21 a year in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Фото: Depositphotos

Now a man can get a multi-million dollar compensation for this terrible mistake, writes Daily Mail.

James Owens, who is now 57 years old, was released from prison 10 years ago after a DNA test proved the innocence of him and another man, whom the police considered him an accomplice, in the rape and murder of 24-year-old Collin William in 1987 year.

Owens was sentenced to life imprisonment, after serving a year of punishment to 21, it turned out that he was innocent, and the man was released.

Now the Baltimore authorities can pay him 9 millions of dollars for wrongful conviction, this is the biggest compensation in the history of the city for a police mistake.

The final decision on the payment should 2 may take the city budget committee.

Owens and James Thompson were charged with robbery, rape, and murder of William at her home in southern Baltimore. Police then stated that Thompson, a neighbor of William, and Owens, broke into a woman’s house, raped and strangled her.

A day after the crime, Thompson told the police that he had found a knife that killed Uyar near his front door. He handed over the weapons to the police along with the bloody shorts that he said were on him when he found the knife.

Thompson declared involvement in the crime of Owens, with whom he was friends, and became the main witness against him. Thompson twisted the story so much that in the end he was called an accomplice in the murder.

Although the police had no evidence linking Owens to the crime, he was convicted and convicted based on Thompson’s testimony.

Only decades later, the DNA test allowed the charges against Owens and Thompson to be dropped. In addition, it was discovered that the blood on Thompson's shorts did not belong to the victim.

Owens was released from prison in October 2008. Thompson was convicted under a new charge of giving false testimony in 2010, but given the time already spent in prison for the murder, which he did not commit, he immediately after the verdict was released.

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