Los Angeles to pay $24 million to 2 men wrongly convicted of murder
Two men who say they were wrongfully convicted of murder after detectives ignored evidence pointing to their innocence and falsified evidence of their guilt will receive more than $24 million from the city of Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council agreed to pay the money in order to settle lawsuits from Kash Delano Register and Bruce Lisker, who both spent decades in prison. Register was freed in 2013, and his lawyers said the $16.7 million he will receive is the largest settlement in an individual civil rights case in the city's history, the Los Angeles Times reports. In his case, lawyers and students from Loyola Law School challenged the testimony of a prosecution witness. Lisker, who spent 26 years in custody after being convicted of killing his 66-year-old mother in 1985, was released from prison in 2009 after the Times investigated his case. He will receive $7.6 million.
Based on eyewitness testimony, Register was convicted in 1979 of the armed robbery and murder of a 78-year-old man. The Times reports none of the fingerprints found at the crime scene matched Register's, no murder weapon was ever found, and his girlfriend testified that she was with him at the time of the shooting. A witness picked Register out of a lineup and said she saw him running from the scene, but two of her sisters said they told police she wasn't telling the truth. "I can't get these 34 years back, but I hope my case can help make things better for others, through improving the way the police get identifications," Register said in a statement.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
5 highly educational cartoons about student protests
Cartoons Artists take on apolitical camping, the National Guard, and more
By The Week US Published
-
French schools and the scourge of teenage violence
Talking Point Gabriel Attal announces 'bold' intervention to tackle rise in violent incidents
By The Week UK Published
-
On the trail of India’s wild lions at Sasan Gir National Park
The Week Recommends The sanctuary is a 'roaring' conservation success
By The Week UK Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published