The tears flowed as a federal jury exonerated David Ayers of murder after he spent 13 years in prison, with jurors finding that two police detectives violated his civil rights by coercing and falsifying testimony and withholding evidence supporting his innocence. The jurors awarded him USD 13.2 million.
The verdict on Friday, including the money for Ayers' pain and suffering, brings an end to the legal battle he's been fighting since his arrest in the 1999 killing of 76-year-old Dorothy Brown. Ayers, 56, was released from prison in 2011 after the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reversed his conviction and the state decided not to seek another trial.
Ayers, who was a security guard for the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority, had been found guilty of killing Brown. She was found bludgeoned to death, covered in defensive wounds and naked from waist down. DNA testing later proved that a pubic hair found in her mouth did not come from Ayers.
The verdict on Friday, including the money for Ayers' pain and suffering, brings an end to the legal battle he's been fighting since his arrest in the 1999 killing of 76-year-old Dorothy Brown. Ayers, 56, was released from prison in 2011 after the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reversed his conviction and the state decided not to seek another trial.
Ayers, who was a security guard for the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority, had been found guilty of killing Brown. She was found bludgeoned to death, covered in defensive wounds and naked from waist down. DNA testing later proved that a pubic hair found in her mouth did not come from Ayers.