Man wrongly imprisoned in murder case wins $13.2 million in civi - KiiiTV3.com South Texas, Corpus Christi, Coastal Bend
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David Ayers, center, walks out of the Justice Center as a free man, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. Ayers, who was serving time for murder, had his charges dropped because of DNA testing that did not trace back to him. Carrie Wood, from the Innocence Project, lea
He was arrested in March 2000 and convicted late that year.
He maintained his innocence, and after the Ohio Innocence Project took up his case in 2008, Ayers got a state appeals court to order the trial judge to allow DNA testing of a single pubic hair found on Brown's body – the results of which showed the hair did not come from Ayers.
But while the hair was being tested, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his conviction (read the decision here in PDF), saying the trial judge improperly allowed testimony of a jailhouse informant who said Ayers confessed to killing the victim and stealing money from her.
Ayers was freed in 2011.
One detective settled with Ayers out of court. But in the civil rights trial, the Plain Dealer reported, Ayers' lawyers said two other detectives, Denise Kovach and Michael Cipo, had tried to frame Ayers because he was gay – despite evidence that Brown had also been sexually assaulted.
He was arrested in March 2000 and convicted late that year.
He maintained his innocence, and after the Ohio Innocence Project took up his case in 2008, Ayers got a state appeals court to order the trial judge to allow DNA testing of a single pubic hair found on Brown's body – the results of which showed the hair did not come from Ayers.
But while the hair was being tested, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his conviction (read the decision here in PDF), saying the trial judge improperly allowed testimony of a jailhouse informant who said Ayers confessed to killing the victim and stealing money from her.
Ayers was freed in 2011.
One detective settled with Ayers out of court. But in the civil rights trial, the Plain Dealer reported, Ayers' lawyers said two other detectives, Denise Kovach and Michael Cipo, had tried to frame Ayers because he was gay – despite evidence that Brown had also been sexually assaulted.
The detectives had denied any wrongdoing.
After the civil rights verdict, The Plain Dealer reported, the director of Cleveland's law office said the city was "considering our options."
As for Ayers, the newspaper quoted him as saying: "My goal is that it never happens to anyone else ever again."
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