A jury in a North Carolina federal civil rights case has awarded $75 million to two black, intellectually disabled half brothers who spent decades behind bars after being wrongfully convicted in the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
The eight-person jury last week decided that Henry McCollum and Leon Brown should receive $31 million each in compensatory damages, $1 million for every year spent in prison. The jury also awarded them $13 million in punitive damages.
After the trial Raleigh attorney Elliot Abrams who was part of the brothers’ legal team said the first jury to hear all of the evidence found Henry and Leon to be innocent and has done what the law can do to make it right at this late date.
McCollum and Brown have pursued the civil case against law enforcement members since 2015, arguing that their civil rights were violated during the interrogations that led to their convictions.
The two were released from prison in 2014 after DNA evidence that pointed to a convicted murderer exonerated them. They were teenagers when they were accused of the crime, which happened in Red Springs in Robeson County.
Attorneys for the men have said they were scared teenagers who had low IQs when they were questioned by police and coerced into confessing. McCollum was then 19, and Brown was 15.
On Friday, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office, one of the defendants, settled its part of the case for $9 million. The town of Red Springs, originally named in the civil suit, settled in 2017 for $1 million.
Discover more from LN247
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
