A 71-year-old Detroit-area man whose murder conviction was
thrown out after he spent 45 years in prison, was exonerated Wednesday and
won’t face a second trial.
Richard Phillips was upbeat, saying the criminal justice
system “works — it just didn’t work fast enough.” A judge granted a request to
permanently drop the case against Phillips, whose conviction was erased last
year. .
Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy said a new investigation
by her office backed his claim that he had no role in a 1971 fatal shooting.
She said a key witness lied at his 1972 trial. .
“There’s nothing I can say to bring back 40 years of his
life,” Worthy said. “The system failed him. This is a true exoneration.”
Phillips had been free on bond since December.
He likely will be eligible for more than $2 million under
Michigan’s wrongful conviction law. No one in the U.S. has served more years in
prison before being exonerated than Phillips, said David Moran, director of the
Innocence Clinic.
“I’ve never carried bitterness around, so I’m not a bitter
man,” Phillips told reporters when asked about his decades in prison.
One of
his goals: A reunion with two children who were ages 2 and 4 when he went to
prison in 1972.
Despite publicity about his case, Phillips said he hasn’t
heard from them and doesn’t know their whereabouts.
What sort of children are those?
Or, were they told as kids that he died etc?
Anyhoo, great that he's getting at least, $2 million as compensation.
I would also expect him to sell his story to a movie studio.
He ought to make loads of money from that.
Life owes him too much.
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