Ohio man David Ayers, exonerated after 13 years in prison, wins $13m lawsuit
An Ohio man who spent 13 years in prison for a murder he did not commit has been awarded $13.2 milion by a federal jury.
David Ayers, 56, was released from prison in 2011 after an appeals court reversed his conviction of the 1999 murder of 76-year-old Dorothy Brown.
Two police detectives were found to have violated Ayers' civil rights by coercing and falsifying testimony and withholding evidence that indicated Ayers was innocent, reports AP.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Ayers cried when he received the verdict.
"This should have been stopped along time ago," Ayers said. "My goal is that it never happens to anyone else ever again."
The two lead investigators on the case, Michael Cipo and Denise Kovach, denied misconduct.
AP reports that Ayers accused the investigators of conspiring to make up a confession that Ayers never gave and coerced a friend of Ayers to lie and say that he told the friend about the murder before the victims body was found.
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