The City of New York will pay $17.5 million to a man who was wrongly imprisoned for two decades, the largest such settlement ever paid by the city, The New York Times reported.
George Bell was convicted with two other men for the 1996 deaths of the owner of a check-cashing store in East Elmhurst, Queens, and an off-duty police officer who was providing security.
But in 2021, a judge tossed their convictions and scolded prosecutors for withholding evidence and making false statements at trial.
Joseph A. Zayas of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court said the prosecution had “completely abdicated its truth-seeking role in these cases.” Two prosecutors who had overseen the cases and who were still working in the Queens and Nassau County DA’s offices later resigned.
Bell also reached a $4.4 million deal with the State of New York.
The exonerations of the three men came right after Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz took office and created a unit to review cases that might have resulted in wrongful convictions.
In Fiscal Year 2022, New York City paid $87 million to settle 16 wrongful conviction cases — the most of any single year, according to a report from the city comptroller’s office.
Overzealous prosecutors that aggressively go after supposed bad guys with no regard for the truth harm all the people involved — those behind bars, the victims, both families — and taxpayers who have to pay for their mistakes.
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