Danny Colon and Anthony Ortiz, a pair of wrongfully convicted NYC murderers have finally been granted the monetary support to live out the rest of their lives after rotting away for 16 years.
According to Raw Story, the courts have awarded the men $9 million in a settlement that their lawyer Joel Rudin called “very reasonable.”
It all began in 1990 when Colon and Ortiz were arrested for conducting a drive-by shooting in Manhattan’s Lower East Side that left two dead and two wounded. The police’s main leverage point in the case was the testimony of Anibal Vera, a known drug addict who later revealed he received leniency in an unrelated case to put his former friend away.
After the faulty evidence was discovered in 2009, the case against Colon and Ortiz–now 50 and 44, respectively–was dismissed in 2011. The men turned around and filed a lawsuit against New York City, the New York City Housing Authority, and the state.
The administration of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office is now being tasked with reviewing every conviction made New York Police Detective Louis Scarcella throughout the 1990s. It is said that he used a drug-using, prostitute to make a lot of his accused take an up-north trip.
The city’s latest debt payout comes just months after the historic Central Park Five were awarded a $41 million settlement for their wrongful convictions. The NYDailyNews conducted an interview with Colon that gives a more in-depth–and shocking–look into his road to redemption.
Crime sometimes pays, but only if you didn’t commit one.
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Photo: Syracuse Nostalgia
