Lawrence McKinney, now 60, was convicted of rape and burglary in 1978 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was sentenced to 115 years in prison, of which he served 31 before his convictions were overturned by DNA evidence in 2009. Not only was he not guilty — he was never even at the scene of the crime.
Upon his release from more than three decades of wrongful imprisonment, McKinney was compensated by the state of Tennessee with just $75. And since then, the Tennessee parole board has twice denied his request for an exoneration hearing that would make him eligible for compensation as high as $1 million.
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