A US man has been awarded $50 million in compensation after spending a decade in prison for a murder he was wrongfully convicted of, marking a significant victory for justice reform.
The United States has witnessed the biggest compensation payout in its history, as a man who was wrongly convicted of murder received $50 million.
After being found guilty as an accomplice in the 2008 west side Chicago shooting of a 19-year-old man, Marcel Brown was given a sentence of 35 years imprisonment. He is currently aged thirty-four.
After spending a decade in jail, Brown was freed in 2018 when his conviction was overturned by the court and all allegations against him were dropped by the prosecutors.
Brown was granted damages by a jury at the US District Court in Chicago on Monday, following a two-week trial wherein they concluded that police had concocted evidence and forced him into making an untrue confession.
Brown was detained by police officers in an interrogation room for over 30 hours, during which time he was denied food and a phone call despite repeated requests. Loevy & Loevy law firm alleges that he also faced sleep deprivation due to the denial of restful conditions.
According to Loevy & Loevy, the police intimidated him with a lengthy prison sentence if he did not confess and dismissed his mother and lawyer when they came to assist him.
In a statement issued through his lawyers, Brown expressed that he was merely a kid at the time when they had thrown him into a den teeming with lions and lacked any concern or regret.
