Two brothers who were wrongfully imprisoned 30 years ago are going to receive pardons along with more than a million dollars from the state of North Carolina after being convicted of killing an 11 year old girl.
But this windfall of cash is not the best thing for one of them. Henry McCollum, the 51 year old man who has been in prison with his brother Leon Brown, 47, said that it wasn’t about the money while they were being pardoned by Gov. Pat McCrory. He said that it was only about proving that they were innocent of the crimes they were charged. He said it was a blessing to be able to lead a normal life again.
The pardons were signed by McCrory on Friday, as confirmed by his office. As per the pardon, both brothers will receive $50,000 each from the state for each year they were imprisoned wrongfully. An upper limit has been set at $750,000.
This compensation hasn’t yet been approved by state agencies but that is nothing more than a formality. It isn’t very clear as to when they’ll get the money though.
As per the defence attorney, both brothers were scared teens with low IQ’s while being questioned by police & they were coerced into a confession about raping and killing Sabrina Blue, an 11 eleven year old girl in 1983.
This path to freedom started early in September 2014 when a judge removed their convictions and order them to be released based on the fact that new DNA evidence had come into the picture which pointed at someone else doing the raping and killing.
The fingerprints and DNA taken from a few cigarette butts and a beer can at the crime scene weren’t either of the brothers. There is no physical evidence connecting them with the crime either. And the person whose DNA and fingerprints were found is already in the middle of serving a sentence for a similar crime he committed just a month later.
McCollum didn’t even know how to put his seatbelt on when he walked off death row. He has never owned a cell phone and has no idea about the internet either. Each man got $45 given to them by prison officials on their release.
