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$13.1 Million Settlement Reached by Actor Framed for Murder

Loaded on Aug. 20, 2019 by Douglas Ankney published in Criminal Legal News September, 2019, page 25
Filed under: Wrongful Conviction. Location: California.

by Douglas Ankney

The Board of Supervisors of San Francisco approved a settlement of $13.1 million in a claim brought by a man who had spent more than six years in prison after police framed him for murder. The decision was unanimous.

In 2010, aspiring actor and hip-hop artist Jamal Trulove was convicted of the 2007 murder of Seu Kuka. But in 2014, his conviction was overturned on claims of prosecutorial misconduct. A jury acquitted him at his March 2015 retrial.

Trulove filed suit in 2016, claiming police misconduct in manipulating eyewitness Priscilla Lualemaga into identifying Truelove as the shooter. In April 2018, a jury found that homicide investigators Maureen D’Amico and Michael Johnson “deliberately fabricated evidence” against Trulove and withheld other evidence. The jury awarded him $10 million.

The City Attorney’s Office agreed to pay an additional $4.5 million before appealing. But the appeal was dropped when the settlement was reached. A spokesman for the City Attorney’s Office said the continued appeal would have cost the city more than $15 million. The two detectives are retired, and no one was disciplined.

Trulove, who has a role in the film, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, said the money was not worth the time he spent behind bars. He said, “You can never get those days back.” He later added on Instagram, “No amount of money could ever reverse the time I missed with my kids and the affect (sic) that it’s had on there (sic) up bringing and our relationship.” 

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Sources: sfexaminer.com, npr.org

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  1. News in Brief
  2. St. Louis Ordered to Stop Holding Detainees Simply Because They Can’t Afford Bail, by Kevin Bliss
  3. Debunked Shaken-Baby Syndrome Leads to Reduced Sentence, by Anthony Accurso
  4. Video Bail Hearings Violate Rights in Many Ways, by Edward Lyon
  5. Chicago Fingerprint Unit Flawed, Under Scrutiny, by Bill Barton
  6. Seventh Circuit Rules Failure to Issue Summons or Warrant Means Supervised Release Not Tolled While Merely in Custody, by Anthony Accurso
  7. Private Companies Use DNA Profiles to Snitch on Customers and Their Families, by Douglas Ankney
  8. California Losing Millions in Civil Asset Forfeiture Funds as Law Aims to Curb Police Abuse
  9. Second Circuit Holds NY Sodomy Not ‘Prior Sex Conviction’ for Purposes of Federal Statute Mandating Life Sentence for Repeat Sex Offenders, by Dale Chappell
  10. Groundbreaking Empirical Study of Expungement Released, by Bill Barton
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  14. Will Police Recruitment Crisis Prompt Change in Behavior?, by Douglas Ankney
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  17. Tennessee Supreme Court Holds Judge Lacks Authority to Sign Search Warrant for Property Outside Court’s Jurisdiction, by Dale Chappell
  18. Another Study Shows There’s No ‘War on Police’, by Bill Barton
  19. 7th Circuit Instructs District Court to Grant Federal Prisoner’s Habeas Based on § 2255(e) Savings Clause, by Douglas Ankney
  20. Qualified Immunity: Explained, by Amir H. Ali, Emily Clark
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  22. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Explains Procedures of G. L. c. 278A and Rules That a Claim of Self-Defense Is a Claim of Factual Innocence, by Douglas Ankney
  23. Vermont Supreme Court Rules DUI Breath Test Subject to Voluntariness Challenge Despite Implied Consent Law, by Mark Wilson
  24. California Court of Appeal Announces Defendant Convicted of Felony Accessory Is Eligible for Resentencing Under Proposition 64, by Douglas Ankney
  25. California Supreme Court Reverses Attempted Murder and Explains Elements Required For Kill Zone Theory Instruction, by Anthony Accurso
  26. Oregon Supreme Court Holds ‘Attempt’ Requires Intent to Personally Participate in the Crime, by Dale Chappell
  27. $13.1 Million Settlement Reached by Actor Framed for Murder, by Douglas Ankney
  28. BOP Finally Implements First Step Act, Officially Releases 3,100 Prisoners Under ‘Good Conduct Time’, by Dale Chappell
  29. Colorado Supreme Court Announces That the People Cannot Withdraw From a Plea Agreement After the Trial Court Rejects Stipulated Sentence, by Douglas Ankney
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