BRANFORD, Conn. – A Connecticut man who spent more than 12 years in prison for a crime it was determined he did not commit has been awarded $4 million by the state.
Lawrence Miller Jr., who now lives in Branford, received the funds under a Connecticut law that established a mechanism to compensate those who file claims of wrongful incarceration and can validate their cases.
The New Haven Register (http://bit.ly/1Ntim79 ) reports that in his ruling, state Claims Commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr. said Miller was convicted "despite the shaky evidence" and a solid alibi.
Miller, a federal prison guard, Army veteran and former police officer, was convicted of assaulting a 15-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy in Danbury in 1981 and sentenced to 32 years in prison.
Another man later confessed to the crime.
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Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.nhregister.com
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