Three Men Imprisoned for 30 years receive $101.7 Million Verdict because the FBI Withheld Evidence of their Innocence

Posted on: July 29, 2007 at 2:03 p.m.

As a society we rely on law enforcement daily to protect us from crime and terrorism, locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally.

When the Criminal Law Blog criminal lawyers worked as prosecutors in Los Angeles, California, they relied daily on the good-faith of police officers, and federal agents to prosecute cases ranging from DUI, murder, white collar crime, domestic violence, drug cases, and sex offenses.

A recent story from the East Coast, as reported in national media put the work of two rogue FBI agents under intense scrutiny. In fact, the trial judge listening to the lawsuit against the federal government awarded 3 men who spent over 30 years in prison over $100 million for being falsely imprisoned.

"Stinging criticism of the FBI and the staggering sum awarded to four men wrongly jailed for murder should flash a warning that no one is above the law, experts believe," newspapers reported.

Media reports provide the following account: U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner yesterday awarded $101.7 million after the men were jailed for a 1965 murder they did not commit, spending three decades behind bars because the FBI withheld crucial evidence of their innocence.

Tagged as: federal law and defense, high profile defense

Comments:

David Carde on December 11, 2007 at 12:45 p.m. wrote:

Like Danielle, I am interested in the logistics of this case. Was there a jury? Was it a bench trial? How was the structure of the trial determined? Aside from the above, the case is a clear example of Pizzi's concern about the prosecution and law enforcement being in bed together. That the FBI withheld exonerating evidence is upsetting. Further, given the sentence each defendant received, the situation is even more of a stunner. That the FBI agents sat back and knowingly allowed 4 innocent men to go to prison for 3 decades and having 2 of the men die in prison is a shocker, straight out of a John Grisham novel. I think that Judge Gertner took the absolute right approach in both verbally stating her outrage for the record and hitting the federal government (where the buck ultimately stops for the conduct of federal agents despite its being a state prosecution) with a stinging fine. Sadly, the millions of dollars is absolutely no compensation for the two men who died in prison and both Limone and Salvati are elderly, having lost their adulthood while in prison. This is also an example of why, given our current system, zealous and savvy defense attorneys are a necessity. The issue was raised in another part of the blog about going to court without an attorney - not a good idea. Defendants, especially when innocent, need all the protection they can get.

Danielle Foster on October 26, 2007 at 3:04 p.m. wrote:

This was an interesting story. I have a couple of questions though. My first question is more of a holistic one, in civil cases do juries decide the amount of punitive damages and compensatory awards? or does a jury simply decide on the guilt or innocence and the judge decides the amount awarded? or does the jury decide whether or not to award compensatory and punitive or just compensatory damages and then the judge decides the amount? and if so, how would the jury know how to decide without knowing the amount first? I understand that when suing anyone for any damages, there is always an initial amount that they are asking for, so does the jury decide based on this amount, do they have the authority to award damages for a lesser amount? My next question is was there a jury in this case? it sounds like there was not. is this typical for civil cases to be decided by a judge only? is this protocol? Okay, sorry for all of the questions. I would like to give kudos to Gertner

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Three Men Imprisoned for 30 years receive $101.7 Million Verdict because the FBI Withheld Evidence of their Innocence

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