A 71-year-old Navy veteran will be awarded USD 21 million for having spent 39 years in prison for two murders he did not commit. Craig Coley was convicted for the murders of Rhonda Wicht and her four-year-old son in 1978.
Authorities in Simi Valley city, California said that they would settle a lawsuit giving Coley USD 21 million for his false imprisonment for almost four decades. Thirty-nine years is the longest prison term overturned in California.
In a statement, Eric Levitt, the city manager, said that while the money will not make up for what Coley went through all these years, settling the case is the right thing to do.
Coley had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit after he was pardoned by then California Governor Jerry Brown in 2017 and was compensated with USD 2 million by the California Victim Compensation Board. Now, the city will pay about USD 4.9 million and the rest will be sourced from insurance and other such means, media reports said.