Man falsely accused of murder is awarded $10M
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In this May 12, 2015 photo, a San Francisco Police officer stands on a street in San Francisco. The original charges were shocking enough: six San Francisco police officers were accused of stealing from suspects living in seedy residential hotels. Then federal prosecutors released racist, homophobic and ethnically insensitive email and text messages exchanged among more than a dozen officers, prompting the San Francisco district attorney to launch a wide-ranging investigation of the police department while considering dismissing up to 3,000 criminal cases involving the officers. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) (The Associated Press)
A man in San Francisco who spent six years in prison for a murder conviction was found Friday to have been framed by police and awarded $10 million in damages.
Jamal Trulove, 33, was imprisoned for supposedly murdering Seu Kuka in a public housing complex in 2007, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The allegation stemmed from a witness account that Trulove shot Kuka in the back of the complex. Trulove was subsequently sentenced to 50 years in prison.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But Trulove’s conviction was overturned in 2014. A state appeals ruled that prosecutors had falsely asserted that the witness had been threatened and risked her life coming forward, the Chronicle reported.
Trulove sued the city for damages and accused authorities of pressuring witnesses. In February, a U.S. District Judge ruled that Trulove’s lawsuit against the city should go to trial.
A jury in Oakland unanimously decided on Friday that the two leading investigators in Trulove’s case had fabricated and withheld evidence against him that would have helped his case. The other two officers in the case were found to have not committed any wrongdoing, the Chronicle reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trulove was reportedly in tears when the verdict was decided.
“It’s about time,” said Trulove’s lawyer. “Justice is not (merely) being acquitted for a crime you did not do. This was finally justice.”