Wrongly Convicted Man Receives $18.6 Million in Lawsuit Against NYC

Alan Newton (pictured above), who spent the last 20 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, was awarded $18.6 million yesterday by a New York City federal jury.

He was convicted in 1985, according to a New York Post report, for rape but never gave up on proving his innocence. In 1994, he made his first request to test the victim's rape kit, but the New York Police Department couldn't find it.

It wasn't until 11 years later, in 2005, that officials located the evidence. They tested it the following year and it proved Newton never committed the crime.

So 12 of those 20 years were because of shoddy police work by the NYPD.

Newton filed suit in 2007 after years of legal wrangling with the city.

He now works for the City University of New York and says he'll use part of the money to pay for law school to help people in need in the justice system.

A spokeswoman for the city's law department said: "We are disappointed with the verdict and plan to appeal."

I'm not exactly sure what is disappointing. Is she disappointed that they couldn't keep an innocent man imprisoned for the rest of his life?

A 2002 examination by the Associated Press of 110 inmates whose convictions were overturned by DNA tests showed that even when men (or women) are released from prison after being exonerated for a crime they didn't commit, many of them still have problems re-entering society and often there isn't a happy ending.

For instance, Vincent Moto was unjustly convicted of rape and imprisoned for 10 ½ years. It cost him more than $100,000 to get exonerated. He used his mother and father's retirement money. He says he still has nightmares about prison and survives on odd jobs, welfare and food stamps.

Richard Danziger was wrongly convicted of rape and sentenced to life. He suffered permanent brain damage when his head was bashed in by another inmate.

Two other inmates died from cancer while in prison. Several of them lost family members they weren't able to see. One struggled to stop pacing five paces forward, then five paces backward -- the dimensions of his cell.

All of them talked about the difficulties of getting hired, even when exoneration, because no one wants to hire someone who has served time in prison or someone with 10 years of blank space on their resume.

Eleven of the 110 served time on death row; two came within days of execution. They all average 10½ years behind bars. About two-thirds of the inmates were black or Hispanic.

It sounds like Alan Newton is successfully getting on with his life. But no amount of money can buy back the years he's already lost.