A false rape conviction, 22 years in prison — and now an $18.5 million award

[Heidi]

updated 1 minute ag

What does a former bank teller from the Bronx do with an $18.5 million windfall after spending more than two decades behind bars for a rape he did not commit?

Alan Newton isn't quite sure yet. A day after a federal jury in Manhattan ordered the city of New York to pay him the award for botching his case, Newton said the decision is still sinking in.

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In reaching its verdict, the jury concluded that the city had violated Newton's constitutional rights and that two police officers had failed to produce Newton's evidence when requested.

Newton, now 49, was freed in July 2006 after serving 22 years in prison for a rape, robbery and assault conviction. Newton had asked for DNA testing in 1994, but it wasn't until 2005 that the city was able to locate a rape kit of biological samples taken from the victim. The genetic tests proved that he was not the perpetrator.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39760576/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
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Absolutely shameful that it took the city 11 years to locate the rape kit with the victim's samples in order to conduct DNA testing.