2 Men Wrongfully Sent To Death Row Awarded $75M In Damages

A jury in a North Carolina federal civil rights case has awarded $75 million to two Black, intellectually disabled half brothers who spent decades behind bars after being wrongfully convicted in the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl. The News & Observer reports the eight-person jury on Friday awarded Henry McCollum and Leon Brown $31 million each in compensatory damages, $1 million for every year spent in prison. The jury also awarded them $13 million in punitive damages. The two were released from prison in 2014 after DNA evidence that pointed to a convicted murderer exonerated them.