Court Upholds Wrongful Conviction Judgment

2009-08-30 21:41:25 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - Law, News)

A federal appeals court rules in favor four men awarded a multi-million dollar judgement for a wrongful conviction.

A Massachusetts court upheld a multimillion-dollar judgment in a wrongful conviction case Thursday.

Press Release Service – Wired PR News – A Massachusetts court has upheld a multimillion-dollar judgment in favor of four men wrongfully convicted of murder. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the federal appeals court ruled in favor of awarding the men, who spent decades in prison, $102 million after the government allegedly withheld evidence that would have led to their release. Two of the men died in prison following their conviction of the 1965 killing, and the others were exonerated in 2001.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is quoted in the report as stating of their decision, “While we reject its finding that the government is liable for malicious prosecution, we uphold the court’s alternate finding that the government is liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress… We conclude that the awards, though high, are not so grossly disproportionate to the harm sustained as to either shock our collective conscience or raise the specter of a miscarriage of justice.”

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