Donald Gates was only 37 years old when he was convicted of raping and killing a 21-year-old Georgetown University student back in 1981. Gates spent 27 long years in prison until DNA testing confirmed his innocence in 2009. A federal jury on Wednesday found that D.C. police framed an innocent man and is making the District liable for damages after he was imprisoned for 27 years. Naturally, Gates slapped the city with a civil suit and now that suit has come to an end with the jury finding Gates was indeed framed by cops and deserves millions. How much? $16.65 million! Read more after the jump.
The District of Columbia agreed Thursday to pay $16.65 million to a man who spent 27 years in prison for a rape and murder he didn’t commit. The amount just so happens to be about $617,000 for every year Donald Eugene Gates spent in prison. Gates was freed in 2009 after DNA evidence cleared him in the 1981 rape and murder of Catherine Schilling. A federal jury on Wednesday found that two city police officers fabricated and withheld evidence in the case, and city officials agreed to a settlement Thursday as the jury was getting ready to decide damages in the case.
“Today, justice was served. Long-awaited justice was served. It feels like the God of the King James Bible is real, and he answered my prayers. Justice is on the way to being fulfilled. It’s one of the happiest days of my life.”
Said Gates as he left the court room. Gates was already a rolling in the dough after he received $1.4 million from the US government thanks to the federal law that grants wrongly imprisoned people $50,000 for every year they were imprisoned. Gates says that he will put the money to good use.
Source: Washigton Post
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