A man who spent 25 years in prison for the rape and murder of a 77-year-old woman before being acquitted in a retrial has reached a $10 million settlement with Philadelphia.
Anthony Wright was sentenced to life in prison in the 1991 slaying of Louise Talley, a neighbor who was raped and repeatedly stabbed. Wright's conviction was reversed in 2014 after DNA evidence pointed to a former crack addict who died in a South Carolina prison.
Wright filed a federal lawsuit accusing police of writing a false confession and coercing him to sign it without reading it and planted other evidence used to convict him.
The city said Wednesday the settlement of a federal lawsuit by the 45-year-old Wright doesn't include an admission of liability.
Innocence Project, an activist group promoting DNA evidence in criminal investigations, said in a statement that Wright was the victim of poor investigation procedures by the police, who allegedly threatened to beat Wright if he wouldn’t sign a confession written by the police.
The group said Wright is the 344th DNA exoneree in the nation. (Xinhua/NAN)
