Current:Home > StocksMichigan to pay $1.75 million to innocent man after 35 years in prison-LoTradeCoin
Michigan to pay $1.75 million to innocent man after 35 years in prison
View Date:2024-12-23 22:47:38
The state of Michigan has agreed to pay $1.75 million to an innocent man who spent 35 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of sexual assault.
Louis Wright was released in November after authorities said DNA tests ruled him out as the perpetrator in an attack on an 11-year-old girl in Albion, a small town in southwestern Michigan, in 1988.
People who are exonerated based on new evidence are eligible for $50,000 for each year spent in a Michigan prison. The attorney general’s office sometimes resists paying, based on strict criteria in the law, but quickly agreed to compensate Wright.
The deal was approved by a judge Wednesday.
Wright told The Associated Press that he’ll likely use some money for a house as well as a vehicle for a sister.
“Nothing can make up for 35 years in a Michigan prison for something he did not do,” Wright’s attorney, Wolf Mueller, said. “This is a first step toward getting Louis’ life back at the age of 65.”
Police investigating the assault settled on Wright as the suspect after an off-duty officer said he had been seen in the neighborhood. Police said he confessed, though the interview was not recorded and he did not sign a confession, according to the Cooley Law School Innocence Project.
The victim was never asked to identify Wright, the Innocence Project said.
Wright eventually pleaded no-contest to the charges and was sentenced to 25 years to 50 years in prison. He then tried to withdraw his plea at sentencing, but the request was denied.
Wright was repeatedly eligible for parole consideration, starting in 2008. But he refused to take a sex offender therapy class, a key condition for release, and remained behind bars until DNA cleared him, Mueller said.
“He said, ‘I didn’t do this crime. I’m not taking a therapy class.’ He cost himself several years, just standing on principle,” Mueller said Friday. “Not a lot of guys would do that.”
Wright said he knew he would eventually be cleared when his mouth was swabbed last summer for DNA testing.
“I spent the last couple months in prison with a smile on my face. Everyone thought I had something up my sleeve,” he said.
Since his release, Wright has been reuniting with family and enjoying simple things, such as shooting pool in a bar. Thanksgiving was special, he said, because it meant having a genuine turkey dinner — not the “white slab slime stuff.”
“I had the real thing,” said Wright, adding: “I’m just taking it one day at a time right now.”
Separately, Mueller filed a lawsuit against police seeking more than $100 million. The lawsuit claims Wright’s rights were violated during the investigation in 1988.
___
Follow Ed White at https://twitter.com/edwritez
veryGood! (37849)
Related
- Deebo Samuel explains 'out of character' sideline altercation with 49ers long snapper, kicker
- Lawsuit settled: 2 top US gun parts makers agree to temporarily halt sales in Philadelphia
- Doctors say Wisconsin woman who at 12 nearly killed girl should be let go from psychiatric hospital
- Look back at Ryan Murphy's 'The People v. O.J. Simpson' following athlete's death
- Mississippi rising, Georgia falling in college football NCAA Re-Rank 1-134 after Week 11
- Police say fentanyl killed 8-year-old Kentucky boy, not an allergic reaction to strawberries
- Lululemon's We Made Too Much Drop Includes Their Fan-Favorite Align Tank Top For Just $39 & Much More
- Robert De Niro and Tiffany Chen attend White House state dinner, Paul Simon performs: Photos
- College football top five gets overhaul as Georgia, Miami both tumble in US LBM Coaches Poll
- SMU suspends CB Teddy Knox, who was involved in multi-car crash with Chiefs' Rashee Rice
Ranking
- Pitchfork Music Festival to find new home after ending 19-year run in Chicago
- Robert De Niro and Tiffany Chen attend White House state dinner, Paul Simon performs: Photos
- Magnitude 2.6 New Jersey aftershock hits less than a week after larger earthquake
- Look back at Ryan Murphy's 'The People v. O.J. Simpson' following athlete's death
- GM recalls 460k cars for rear wheel lock-up: Affected models include Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac
- Cannes 2024 to feature Donald Trump drama, Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' and more
- At least 3 dead, 6 missing in explosion at hydroelectric plant in Italy
- Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's 15-Year-Old Daughter Vivienne Looks So Grown Up on Red Carpet
Recommendation
-
1 dead, 2 children injured in wrong-way crash; driver suspected of DWI: Reports
-
HELP sign on tiny Pacific island leads to Coast Guard and Navy rescue of 3 mariners stranded for over a week
-
Meet The Real Housewives of Dubai's Fiery New Housewife in Sizzling Season 2 Trailer
-
O.J. Simpson dies at 76: The Kardashians' connections to the controversial star, explained
-
Could trad wives, influencers have sparked the red wave among female voters?
-
Deadly explosion at Colorado apartment building was set intentionally, investigators say
-
Track and field to be first sport to pay prize money at Olympics
-
Meet The Real Housewives of Dubai's Fiery New Housewife in Sizzling Season 2 Trailer