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$21 Million Settlement for Wrongfully Convicted Man Released After 39 Years in Prison

Loaded on July 17, 2019 by Douglas Ankney published in Criminal Legal News August, 2019, page 42
Filed under: Settlements, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment. Location: California.

by Douglas Ankney

Simi Valley, California, and a wrongfully convicted man who spent nearly four decades in prison have reached a $21 million settlement.

Craig Coley was convicted of the 1978 murders of Rhonda Wicht and her 4-year-old son Donald. Wicht had been raped. Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but the then 31-year-old Coley was sentenced to life without parole.

Former California Governor Jerry Brown pardoned Coley in 2017 after at least three law enforcement officers opined that a detective had “mishandled” the case. Investigators in Simi Valley, about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, discovered biological samples from the case in a laboratory. The trial court had ordered the samples destroyed, but a private firm purchased the laboratory and stored the samples. DNA testing of key pieces of evidence used at the trial — a bed sheet and one of Donald’s tee-shirts — revealed someone other than Coley committed the crimes.

This case was unusual in that all concerned government officials — including the police department and current prosecuting attorney — agreed that the now 71-year-old Coley was wrongfully convicted and deserved the $21 million in compensation.

“While no amount of money can make up for what happened to Mr. Coley,” said Simi Valley City Manager Eric Levitt, “settling this is the right thing to do for Mr. Coley and our community.”

The city said 39 years was the longest prison term overturned in California. 

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Source: cnn.com

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More from this issue:

  1. News in Brief
  2. Record Number of Exonerations Prompts Michigan AG to Create Conviction Integrity Unit, by Douglas Ankney
  3. $21 Million Settlement for Wrongfully Convicted Man Released After 39 Years in Prison, by Douglas Ankney
  4. Police, Prosecutor Misconduct Continues Unabated as Evidenced by Record Number of Exonerations in 2018, by Douglas Ankney
  5. Report: Google Can Track You Even When Your Phone’s Off, by Anthony Accurso
  6. New York Court of Appeals: Jury Trial Right Attaches to Deportable Crimes Punishable by Less Than Six Months in Jail, by David Reutter
  7. $270,000 Awarded to Grandmother Brutalized by Pennsylvania Cops, by Edward Lyon
  8. $1 Million Settlement for NYC Crime Lab Tech Who Blew Whistle on Use of Untested DNA Tests for Decades, by Edward Lyon
  9. Wisconsin Supreme Court Holds That Statute Doesn’t Require Habeas Petitioner to Plead Timeliness, Overruling Smalley v. Morgan, by Douglas Ankney
  10. Report Finds Lack of Reporting on Deaths in Law Enforcement Custody, Even After Landmark Legislation, by Steve Horn
  11. Study Details the Effect of Brain Scan Evidence on Sentencing, by Anthony Accurso
  12. NYC Program Helps Former Prisoners Realize Their Dream
  13. ‘They need to be marked for life’, by Sandy Rozek
  14. The FBI Polices Itself Like Kids Guarding a Candy Store, by Edward Lyon
  15. Fifth Circuit: Confrontation Clause Violated When Officer’s Testimony Relates Incriminating Information Received From Non-Testifying Informant, by Douglas Ankney
  16. Eighth Circuit Overlooks Procedural Default, Orders Immediate Release From Excessive ACCA Sentence Based on Prior Sex Offense, by Michael Berk
  17. New York City’s Bail Success Story, by Bill Barton
  18. Ninth Circuit: Running From Police Alone Doesn’t Give Rise to Reasonable Suspicion Justifying Stop and Frisk, by Douglas Ankney
  19. Georgia Supreme Court Announces New Evidence Code Abrogates Categorical Exclusionary Rule of Mallory, by Douglas Ankney
  20. Under Marsy’s Law, Police Using Violence Can Claim ‘Victim’ Status, by Edward Lyon
  21. Private Citizens Carrying Guns Commit Fewer Crimes Than Cops, by Douglas Ankney
  22. Massachusetts Supreme Court: Discharge From Civil Commitment 
Required When Examiners Conclude Defendant Is Not Sexually Dangerous, by Douglas Ankney
  23. FAMM, Washington Lawyers’ Committee, NACDL Launch Compassionate Release Clearinghouse
  24. Seventh Circuit Orders Grant of Successive § 2255 Motion and 
Resentencing in Pre-Booker Mandatory Guidelines Case Involving Elements Clause’s Definition of ‘Crime of Violence’, by Chad Marks
  25. West Virginia Supreme Court Announces Parole Eligibility Statute for Prisoners Who Committed Crimes as Minors is Retroactive, by Douglas Ankney
  26. California Supreme Court: Prop 47 Requires Dismissal of Conviction Based on a Predicate Felony That Is Later Reduced to a Misdemeanor, by Douglas Ankney
  27. Hawai’i Supreme Court Remands for Resentencing Where Circuit Court Considered Defendant’s Refusal to Admit Guilt in Imposing Consecutive Sentences, by Douglas Ankney
  28. Maryland Court of Appeals Rules That Courts Must Ask Non Compound ‘Strong Feelings’ Question Upon Request During Voir Dire, by Douglas Ankney
  29. Fourth Circuit: Cannot Substitute Career Offender Predicate on Collateral Review, by Anthony Accurso
  30. Court Extends McQuiggin Actual Innocence Exception to Defaulted Legal Claim, Vacates § 924(c) Conviction, by Dale Chappell
  31. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Holds Consent to Search Does Not Include K-9 Sniff When No K-9 Present When Consent Given and Wait 40 Minutes for Its Arrival, by Dale Chappell
  32. Fifth Circuit: Plain Error Requiring Resentencing Where Court Didn’t Give Defendant Chance to Speak at Sentencing Hearing and Prospective Allocution Provided Added Details to Lead Reasonable Judge to Reconsider Harsh Sentence, by Michael Berk
  33. Court Reporters Likely Fail to Accurately Transcribe Testimony for Speakers of ‘African American English’, by Anthony Accurso
  34. Bucklew v. Precythe, by Michael Avery
  35. From the Editor: Compassionate Release for Extraordinary and Compelling Reasons, by Richard Resch
  36. Parole a Detriment to Rehabilitation; ‘Less Is More’ Reform Sensible, by Kevin Bliss
  37. Minnesota Supreme Court Holds ‘Stalking-by-Mail’ and ‘Mail-Harassment’ Statutes are Facially Overbroad, by Douglas Ankney
  38. Fifth Circuit: Denial of Habeas Petition as Successive Reversed Where Second Petition Challenges a Separate Judgment, by Same Court, Not Covered in First Petition, by Chad Marks
  39. ‘DNA Mixtures,’ ‘Touch DNA,’ and Software-Enhanced Forensic DNA Analysis, by Michael Berk
  40. Sixth Circuit Holds Chalking Car Tires for Parking Enforcement Constitutes a Search Under Fourth Amendment, by Matthew Clarke
  41. SCOTUS Announces Death of ‘Categorical Approach’ by Invalidating 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(B) as Unconstitutionally Vague, by Richard Resch
  42. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Consent to Search Does Not Attenuate Seized Evidence From Taint of Illegal Search of CSLI, by Douglas Ankney
  43. Exonerations: From Wrongful Conviction to Release and Beyond, by Edward Lyon

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