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OH - Freed men must prove innocence
Wednesday, 01 February 2006
Wronged friends have to win civil case to get damages from state
Alan Johnson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Gary Lamar James, left, and Tim Howard spent 26 years in prison for a crime they didn?t commit.
They?re not guilty, but Tim Howard and Gary Lamar James must prove their innocence if they want payback for 26 years in prison, a Franklin County judge ruled yesterday.
Common Pleas Court Judge David E. Cain?s decision was a setback in Howard and James? efforts to obtain a financial settlement for wrongful imprisonment stemming from a 1976 bank robbery and their murder convictions.
Their legal claims ? which could result in them splitting a $5 million state payoff, the largest in Ohio history ? likely will go to trial in April.
It means the long road traveled by Howard and James, two longtime friends from the East Side who became middle-age men while imprisoned, will be a little longer.
While acknowledging he was "very sympathetic," Cain said the wrongful-imprisonment claim is a civil case and as such it is Howard and James? "burden to prove that they were actually innocent of the crime."
"This is just a temporary setback," said James D. Owen, one of the men?s attorneys. The legal team had hoped to secure a summary judgment without going to trial.
Howard and James, now both 52, were 23 on Dec. 21, 1976, when the former Ohio National Bank branch on E. Main Street was robbed and guard Berne Davis was killed execution-style.
While they proclaimed their innocence from the beginning, Howard and James were convicted and sent to prison, initially to Death Row before Ohio?s old capital-punishment law was ruled unconstitutional.
The convictions were overturned in 2003 after a team of lawyers intervened with financial backing from Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey nonprofit prisoner-advocacy organization. The case was the subject of a series of Dispatch stories at the time.
Howard was released in April 2003 by then-Common Pleas Court Judge Michael H. Watson, who cited newly uncovered evidence and constitutional violations by the prosecution in overturning the 1977 conviction.
Three months later, James passed a state-administered polygraph test and was released. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O?Brien said at the time it was "in the interests of justice."
However, both O?Brien and Attorney General Jim Petro are now opposing the settlement.
O?Brien declined to comment yesterday, but Nick Soulas, an assistant prosecutor, said Cain "is applying the Ohio law that the legislature adopted for all claims of wrongful imprisonment by requiring a trial or hearing of any factual issues."
Petro likewise thinks the men must prove their innocence, spokeswoman Kim Norris said. "The burden is on them."
A settlement would be based on three factors: damages capped at $41,418.91 per year, an amount to compensate for lost wages, and attorney fees.
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Their legal claims ? which could result in them splitting a $5 million state payoff, the largest in Ohio history ? likely will go to trial in April.
It means the long road traveled by Howard and James, two longtime friends from the East Side who became middle-age men while imprisoned, will be a little longer.
While acknowledging he was "very sympathetic," Cain said the wrongful-imprisonment claim is a civil case and as such it is Howard and James? "burden to prove that they were actually innocent of the crime."
"This is just a temporary setback," said James D. Owen, one of the men?s attorneys. The legal team had hoped to secure a summary judgment without going to trial.
Howard and James, now both 52, were 23 on Dec. 21, 1976, when the former Ohio National Bank branch on E. Main Street was robbed and guard Berne Davis was killed execution-style.
While they proclaimed their innocence from the beginning, Howard and James were convicted and sent to prison, initially to Death Row before Ohio?s old capital-punishment law was ruled unconstitutional.
The convictions were overturned in 2003 after a team of lawyers intervened with financial backing from Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey nonprofit prisoner-advocacy organization. The case was the subject of a series of Dispatch stories at the time.
Howard was released in April 2003 by then-Common Pleas Court Judge Michael H. Watson, who cited newly uncovered evidence and constitutional violations by the prosecution in overturning the 1977 conviction.
Three months later, James passed a state-administered polygraph test and was released. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O?Brien said at the time it was "in the interests of justice."
However, both O?Brien and Attorney General Jim Petro are now opposing the settlement.
O?Brien declined to comment yesterday, but Nick Soulas, an assistant prosecutor, said Cain "is applying the Ohio law that the legislature adopted for all claims of wrongful imprisonment by requiring a trial or hearing of any factual issues."
Petro likewise thinks the men must prove their innocence, spokeswoman Kim Norris said. "The burden is on them."
A settlement would be based on three factors: damages capped at $41,418.91 per year, an amount to compensate for lost wages, and attorney fees.
"This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it!"