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January jobs report: Unemployment rate falls to 4%, wages rise more than forecast; Trump signs order imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel; Ten Commandments in public schools debate reaches South Dakota; Virginia ranks among worst states for wage theft; Mexican long-nosed bat makes appearance in Arizona.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi strikes a Trump tone at the Justice Department, federal workers get more time to consider buyouts, and an unclassified email request from the White House worries CIA vets.

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During Black History Month, a new book shares how a unique partnership built 5,000 schools for Black students, anti-hunger advocates say ag communities would benefit from an expanded SNAP program, and Americans have $90 billion in unpaid medical bills.

Pressure Mounts to Compensate NC Man Wrongfully Imprisoned

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Tuesday, October 4, 2022   

Advocates for a man wrongfully imprisoned for decades due to misconduct by a Durham Police detective and released in 2016, want the city to honor a federal grand jury's decision and pay him $6 million.

Critics said the city's position in the case of Darryl Howard sets a bad example and undermines credibility. Durham officials countered the city lacks the legal authority to compensate Howard, citing a resolution prohibiting paying for judgments for employees.

Bradley Bannon, Howard's attorney at Patterson Harkavy in Chapel Hill, said Durham wants to be seen as progressive, but is not living up to its professed morals.

"After you go through the criminal courts to prove your innocence, you go to the governor and prove your innocence, you go to a civil jury and prove your innocence, 'We're not going to pay you that.' It is an extraordinary slap in the face of a citizen who has already been so traumatized by the misuse of power," Bannon argued.

The grand jury found a Durham detective manufactured evidence resulting in Howard's conviction in the 1990s for a double murder. Bannon added Howard is now 60, and many of his relatives have passed away.

Research shows for murder exonerations, the average lag time between conviction and exoneration is almost 15 years.

Bannon explained because Howard received a gubernatorial pardon of innocence, he is also entitled under state law to statutory compensation of $750,000 dollars, but he noted the compensation amount is unrelated to the reasons a person ends up wrongfully behind bars.

"They wanted to compensate wrongfully convicted people for their wrongful incarceration at $50,000 a year. But they also decided to cap that at $750,000, which is effectively 15 years," Bannon explained. "That has nothing to do with the separate issue of why they were wrongfully convicted."

Bannon added he expects further litigation.

"I think that over the next couple of months, there will not only be activity in the underlying case, in terms of appeals at the Fourth Circuit, but there'll be separate lawsuit activities regarding this issue of indemnification and payment," Bannon stated.


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