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Man wrongly jailed for 30 years only gets £60 in compensation

(Picture WKRN)
(Picture WKRN)

A man who spent three decades in jail for a crime which he did not commit has so far received just $75 (£60) in compensation.

Lawrence McKinney, 60, spent 31 years in prison for rape and burglary – but was cleared in 2009 after DNA evidence ruled him out.

Mr McKinney said, ‘I don’t have no life, all my life was taken away.’

But his application for $1 million (£810,000) compensation has been mired in red tape – and refused by the state’s parole board, on the grounds that insufficient evidence had been provided.

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The final decision comes down to Republican governor Bill Haslam, who received McKinney’s clemency application in November this year.

McKinney’s lawyer, Jack Lowery, said, ‘It is not justice for him not to receive compensation for being wrongfully imprisoned.

‘There has been one mistake made that sent him to prison. I trust that another is not made that does not allow him exoneration.’