Click:软文

SIMI VALLEY, CA — A Simi Valley man spent nearly four decades in prison for the murder of his former partner and her 4-year-old son. But the man, now 71, didn’t commit the murders. And now he’s about to receive $21 million as part of a settlement with the city.

Craig Coley, a restaurant manager, received a life sentence without the possibility of parole in the killings of Rhonda Wicht, 24, and her son Donald. But investigators later found the evidence used to convict him was dubious. In 2017, he was pardoned, and on Saturday, Simi Valley City Manager Eric Levitt said in a statement to media outlets that they wanted to do what they could to make things right.

Click Here: gold coast suns 2019 guernsey

“While no amount of money can make up for what happened to Mr. Coley, settling this case is the right thing to do for Mr. Coley and our community,” said Levitt.

It was the longest prison sentence ever overturned in the state, Levitt said.

Two Brutal Killings, One Suspect

The mother and child were found dead in November 1978. Donald was smothered and Wicht was strangled with a macrame cord, according to CNN. Wicht, who was found on her bed, had also been sexually assaulted. The culprit also appeared to have staged the scene to look like a burglary.

Neighbors said they’d heard a struggle around 5:30 a.m. the day of the killings. One witness even said he’s seen a truck outside that belonged to Coley, who was in the midst of breaking up with Wicht.

Coley, whose father was a retired Los Angeles police officer, told police he was at a restaurant mingling with friends until about 4:30 a.m. that day. He then dropped a friend off at home around 4:45 a.m. and went straight home, he said.

But police found clues at his home that they thought tied him to the crimes. This included a bloody towel and a children’s T-shirt. Police thought it was Wicht’s blood on the towel and the shirt had been used to smother her son. Coley was arrested that day and charged with first-degree murder, among other crimes.

Despite Evidence, Coley Maintains Innocence

Coley later testified at his trial that he had nothing to do with the brutal killings. He acknowledged having consensual sex with Wicht in his apartment the day before she died.

In April 1979, the judge declared a mistrial when the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict. The following year, jurors convicted Coley of first-degree murder and found that both enhancements of multiple murder and murder during rape were true. For those crimes, he was sentenced to life behind bars without parole.

A decade later, a California appeals court upheld his conviction. But in 2013, Coley, with the help of an investigator who believed he was innocent, petitioned Gov. Jerry Brown for clemency.

“The petition said in part that a Simi Valley detective had destroyed biological evidence that could have exonerated Coley,” according to a case file by The National Registry of Exonerations.

Freedom And A Settlement

On Nov. 20 2017, after a thorough investigation by the county district attorney’s conviction integrity unit, prosecutors announced they concluded he was innocent — they would support his petition for a pardon.

District Attorney Gregory Totten and city police chief Dave Livingstone said in a joint statement: “Reviewing the case in light of the new evidence, we no longer have confidence in the weight of the evidence used to convict Mr. Coley. We also believe that the evidence, as we now know it, would meet the legal standard for a finding of factual innocence.”

Two days later, Gov. Brown granted Coley a pardon. He was released that day.

Last year, Coley was awarded nearly $2 million, about $140 for every day he spent behind bars, Yahoo! reported. Coley used some of it to buy a home.

With Saturday’s settlement, he’ll be able to do a lot more than that. He plans to travel and see places on his bucket list. He also wants to help other inmates who have been wrongfully convicted.

“He’s looking forward to being able to live his life,” Mike Bender, a close friend and former investigator, told Yahoo!”No one would want to trade places with him.”