BALTIMORE – Baltimore may pay $9 million to a man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 20 years in prison.
News outlets report officials say the settlement with James Owen would be the largest settlement from the city in an alleged police misconduct case. The settlement would come from Baltimore's regular budget and is set to go before Baltimore's spending panel Wednesday.
Owens was charged in the 1987 robbery, rape and murder of 24-year-old Collen Williar. Police found no physical evidence linking Owens to the crime, but charged him on the basis of a neighbor's testimony. A neighbor had said he found a knife outside of Williar's apartment and retrieved it on behalf of Owens.
Owens was cleared by DNA evidence more than a decade ago.
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