London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 31, 2025

Two brothers were wrongfully convicted of rape and murder. Nearly 40 years later, they are getting $75 million in compensation

Two brothers were wrongfully convicted of rape and murder. Nearly 40 years later, they are getting $75 million in compensation

A federal jury has awarded $75 million to two brothers in North Carolina, decades after they were convicted of rape and murder they did not commit.

Leon Brown and Henry McCollum were arrested in 1983 and spent nearly 31 years in prison before the half-brothers were exonerated in 2014.

The award is significant because not all exonerees in the United States are guaranteed compensation.

The federal government, Washington, DC, and only 35 states have some form of restitution laws, according to the Innocence Project, but advocates say many of them fall short in compensating people.

Like many exonerees around the country, Brown and McCollum opted to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the government agencies involved in their wrongful convictions -- a process that advocates say often takes years and it's challenging to win.

Last week, a federal jury decided that Brown and McCollum should be compensated for their time in prison, nearly six years after filing a lawsuit in federal court. The jury awarded them $31 million each in compensatory damages -- that's $1 million for each year they were incarcerated. They will also receive an additional $13 million total in punitive damages, according to court documents.

Brown and McCollum were arrested and charged in 1983 with the rape and murder of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie in Red Springs, North Carolina, CNN previously reported. Both of them were sentenced to death, but Brown later had his sentence reduced to life in prison.

In 2014, both Brown and McCollum were exonerated and released from prison after DNA from a cigarette collected at the crime scene was tested and ultimately tied another person to the crime. The brothers filed a civil rights lawsuit in 2015 against local officials involved in the original case.

At the trial for their civil case, attorneys for the brothers had to prove that they had been wrongfully convicted, and argued they had been coerced to give false confessions.

Attorney Elliot Abrams said his team presented evidence showing that investigators withheld information in Brown and McCollum's initial trial, including the manner in which the interrogations were conducted and the existence of another suspect.

"There was a heinous rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl and the government said these two people did it and confessed to it. There was nothing to counter that," Abrams said. "We now know they covered it up intentionally."

At the time, McCollum was 19 and had a low IQ, which Abrams compares to that of a 9-year-old boy; and there were inconsistencies when comparing statements made to police with details of the crime scene as well as the autopsy, the attorneys argued in the lawsuit.

CNN has reached out to Scott MacLatchie, an attorney for the two North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation officers involved in the case and to the Robeson County Sheriff's Department for comment.

Unlike many exoneration cases, attorneys representing McCollum and Brown were successful in their attempts to prove misconduct, said Rebecca Brown, the director of policy for the Innocence Project.

"Sometimes somebody was just misidentified and it wasn't necessarily because there was an intentional suggestive lineup, it's just error in the system that will exist anyway," Brown said. "That does not mean by the way that there wasn't misconduct, it just means that it's very difficult to prove misconduct that rises to the level of a civil rights violation."


Exonerees have to fight to be compensated, advocates say

The Innocence Project, along with other groups across the country, has been advocating for wrongful conviction compensation laws that apply to all who have been exonerated.

Since 1989, more than 2,700 people who were wrongfully convicted have been exonerated of state and federal crimes, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. About 50% of the wrongfully convicted people in the registry identify as Black and less than 10% are women.

Advocates say many people do not receive compensation due to the lack of statutes in their states or because there are restrictive requirements in the states with enacted laws.

"If the majority of actual innocent people can't be compensated under a civil rights scheme, using civil litigation, we want to pass laws in every state that provides global compensation, regardless of whether you can demonstrate fault, regardless of whether people can prove official misconduct.

We want everyone to be able to be equally treated under the law," Brown said.

Fernando Bermudez wrongly served 18 years behind bars for a homicide he didn't commit in New York but had to wait three years after filing a claim before he received his first settlement. He said he was exonerated in 2009 and received two settlements, one from the state and the other from the city in 2014 and 2017, respectively.

"Once I got out I knew that wouldn't be the end of my fight ... I was outraged that I had to pursue this, I had to fight for compensation and get recriminalized in the process," Bermudez said.

During those years, Bermudez says authorities still saw him as if he had been rightfully arrested, charged and convicted.
"They look at that stuff to try and make an argument that you really didn't have a life or contribute to society," Bermudez said.

One of the leading causes of wrongful convictions is official misconduct by police officers or prosecutors, according to a study published last year by the National Registry of Exonerations. Brown with the Innocence Project says the pending George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 could help decrease the number of wrongful convictions by ending qualified immunity.

"Until police agencies are going to really be responsible for this kind of restitution -- and share liability by individual cops who have some skin in the game -- until that happens, you are not going to see changes in police culture or policy," Brown said. "Qualified immunity, eliminating it, is not just a reform about restitution, but it is also about incentivizing change in the police agency."

For Jabbar Collins, a paralegal who wrongfully served 16 years in a New York state prison for the murder of a rabbi, Leon Brown and McCollum's jury award doesn't "fully capture" the loss and damage they suffered.

"These guys went into prison, they were young, they lost virtually half of their lives and they'll spend the rest of their lives trying to piece back together and try to make sense of what they have lost and that's the reality," Collins said.

Eleven years have passed since Collins was released and he says there are parts of his life that he's still trying to process.
"The money helps, but it never, never makes you whole," Collins said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
×