CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina’s largest city will pay $9.5 million to a man who spent nearly 25 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.
The city of Charlotte agreed to the settlement with Tim Bridges this week. He was convicted and sentencing to life in prison after a jury said he broke into a home and raped an 83-year-old Charlotte woman in 1989.
But DNA testing nearly two decades later determined he did not rape the woman. Bridges was released from prison and pardoned by the governor.
Bridges’ lawyer says police withheld evidence of other possible suspects and offered deals for false testimony.
Bridges cried as his lawyer told The Charlotte Observer that Bridges is still bothered the city won’t apologize.
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Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotteobserver.com
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