The city of Los Angeles has paid an $8.3 million settlement to Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) exoneree Obie Anthony, who served 17 years in prison for wrongful murder and attempted robbery convictions before he was exonerated and released in 2011.
In 1995, Anthony and his co-defendant Reggie Cole were convicted of first degree murder—despite the lack of physical evidence linking them to the crime—and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Anthony subsequently served 17 years behind bars until 2011, when he was exonerated with the help of the Northern California Innocence Project and Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kelvin Filer vacated Anthony’s convictions based on several constitutional errors including prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, and the false testimony of a convicted killer and pimp.
Anthony subsequently sued Los Angeles Police detectives and the city of Los Angeles for wrongful imprisonment, which resulted in the $8.3 million settlement that was reached last month. Anthony hopes to use the funds to open a transition center for exonerated men and women.
Anthony’s civil attorneys announced on Monday that the settlement might be the largest in a wrongful-imprisonment case in California history. However, Anthony said, “No compensation…can give me my years back.”
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Watch a video about Obie’s story here.