The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $8.3 million to a man wrongfully convicted of murder.
Obie Anthony was exonerated of a 1994 murder conviction, allegedly because the Los Angeles Police Department ignored evidence that would have proved Anthony couldn't have gunned a man down, according to his lawyers. They said the $8.3 million settlement that the city agreed to is the largest in California history.
Anthony, who was released from prison in 2011, said at a news conference Monday that the money from the settlement, reached last month, will not make up for the years he spent behind bars for a murder he didn't commit.
He also isn't guaranteed to stay out of jail. Prosecutors reserved the right to refile murder charges against Anthony and another defendant, according to a Los Angeles Times story.
"It's not a good feeling to have to look over your shoulder and be concerned when you know you have a declaration behind you of innocence," Anthony said.
LA City Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti agreed to pay Anthonty $8.3 million for his lawsuit against the city, according to city files. Los Angeles admitted no wrong doing in the settlement, according to the LA Times. (Representatives for the city did not immediately respond to questions from NBC4.)
Anthonty's attorneys said a key witness lied during testimony and that an LA Times reporter took home bullet casings from the crime scene that were later used to show the shooter who killed Felipe Gonzales couldn't have been where Anthony and his co-defendant allegedly were. One of the lawyers called it a "dereliction of duty, or worse" in a news release.
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Anthony and his co-defendant, Reggie Cole, were exonerated of killing a man with the help of the Northern California Innocence Project and Loyola Law School's Project for the Innocent.
"Anger keeps you in prison," Anthony told NBC4, vowing not to feel that way at an "Innocence Day" event in October 2014 celebrating his and other exonerations. "They've already taken 17 years of my life."
