Innocent man imprisoned for 529 days sues for $10 million

May 12, 2016

A man who spent 2 years in a Georgia jail for a crime he didn’t commit is now suing the county that held him for $10 million.

Darrick McDuffie was held in DeKalb County for 529 days for a 2012 shooting. However, even the victim of the shooting maintained that police had the wrong suspect, and he continued to maintain his innocence.

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The victim, Marcus Brown, signed a sworn affidavit attesting to the fact that he did not even remember pointing McDuffie out as the man who shot him, as he was under the influence of several painkillers at the time. “Darrick McDuffie was not responsible for my injuries of October 2, 2012,” Brown wrote in the affidavit. In fact, Brown had given the name “Trevon Stratus” just before he passed out from being shot.

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Despite this, McDuffie was held for two years on aggravated assault charges, and even after he was proclaimed innocent, it took another 54 days for McDuffie to be released.

“Mr. McDuffie was barely 20 years old when he was first arrested, and spent an especially significant time of his life — in which most young adults begin to establish a career, relationships, and otherwise prepare for adult life — locked away in the DeKalb County jail,” according to court documents.

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“This is a miscarriage of justice,” his attorney Adam Klein told the Daily News. “We have the police, the prosecutor, the sheriff’s department, acting in concert, they kept him in jail for almost two years when they have a sworn affidavit.”