BOSTON (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $14 million to a man who spent nearly 15 years in prison after he was wrongly convicted in the 1988 slaying of a 12-year-old Boston girl.
The jury in U.S. District Court awarded the compensatory damages on Wednesday to Shawn Drumgold, who accused Boston police detective Timothy Callahan of violating his civil rights.
Last week, the jury found after a civil trial that Callahan caused Drumgold’s wrongful conviction by concealing the fact that he put a key prosecution witness up at a motel, gave him meals and $20 during Drumgold’s trial.
Drumgold was convicted of killing Darlene Tiffany Moore, who was caught in gang crossfire in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. A judge freed Drumgold in 2003 after the witness recanted his testimony.