Well, you have the police in league with the DA's, so they once they make up their mind about something, no amount of evidence to the contrary will change their minds. Remember, the chief police position is a political one, so its in their interest to get SOMEONE behind bars...

One public defender versus the combined power of a police/DA conspiracy? Yea, it's the public defender's fault for not being Superman.

Of course the award amount will end up getting knocked down considerably by the courts. The $25 million award will not stand. By the tme it is all over and the lawyers get their cut I would be surprised if he actually collected anything more than maybe $2 million. The media loves to print these big jury awards because it grabs readership, but they rarely ever follow up with a story that tells what the final award ended up being.

Right, it's the wrongly-convicted man's fault for not hiring an attorney who could overshadow the strong-arming of witnesses. /sarc

@ Nikkinala : I don't know if you are being sacarstic or not. But if you are not, how many 13 year old do you know that can fork over thousands of dollars (or even tens of thousands) to a lawyer to be defended for his alleged crime ?

Scalzo: I don't believe it is the repsonsibility of the prosecutor to fake evidence, fabricate it or present false evidence even if provided by the police. On the contrary, if a prosecutor does these things she/he could find themselves in a box - literally. So maybe the defense was inadequate, but when one finds oneself defending against false evidence one has a real problem if the public defender is the lawyer. They just don't have the resources. So now we know it was a false conviction. If we were interested in justice we'd have to go back and see who presented the false evidence, where'd they get it, how'd they use it and perhaps what we learn would and should cause someone to lose their retirement and maybe have to defend themselves in court. This business of false convictions and false imprisonment costs taxpayers a huge amount - and the real criminals are still out there free and able to hurt more people. There should be some recourse on behalf of the taxpayers against the public officals who do these things - when it can be proved they were negligent or criminal in their work as police or prosecutors.

@Danny: lol, you are too funny. you know as well as I do that he probably got a bit more than room and board for 16yrs. Think about a 13yr old boy being locked up, how long do you think he enjoyed the experience before his 16-18yr old cell mate made friends with him. The kid, no matter how much we give him, is now probably screwed up for life. If you are innocent when going to prison, chances are you will be a criminal by the time you come out. It is not about rehab, it is about beating you down into submision.

I greet this story with mixed emotion. It was a horrible injustice 13 years ago, but the COMPLETELY innocent don't usually get caught up in these kinds of miscarriages. He's now facing drug charges. Granted, going to prison and having to rub elbows with actual convicts, criminals, and prison gangs all these years may have had an effect on his development, but it sounds like he might have been trouble before he went in. How did the police pick him up? Who fingered him and why? If he'd been at home doing his homework, he probably never would have run into the police or gotten associated with people who would frame him for murder.

@ Rob Scan

I couldn't believe Roderick Drew said this as well !!!

lets put him in jail for that long..with his pant down to his knees holding his ankles and see if he still feels the same way after only 5 years...what a fool !

the prosecutors from that orig trial should also face some consequences

The defense did not use the available evidence because, as usual, the prosecutor's office hid the evidence. In other words it was not made available. I see this counteless times on crime shows which I watch religiously so that I can see how these police departments operate. And, as previously stated, once they grab the first inocent victim I think they will not change their mind even if ther mothers asked them to do so. They could care less if an inocent man is sent to jail. Their pride is more important.

Danny-2987019 your an idiot plain and simple. the kid was locked up at 13. His entire teen life was spent behind bars. So all the stuff you got to enjoy growing up this guy didnt. Being so young he was likely rapped repeatedly while your sorry a&& enjoyed life. The amount should be a lot higher. He should be walking out with 100 mil and whatever else he demanded of the idiotic state that locked him up. While you were enjoying Christmas and turkey this guy was going through hell and for what??? I wish they would lock your sorry a&& up so you can enjoy the "GOOD LIFE" as you make it out to be. Dont ever open your pie hole again if you cant think first. I rarely get angry at assanine coments but your comment tops em all.

Hey Danny, Let me lock you in a 6 by 6 with other animals for 16 years and see how you fare. this kids teenage years and young adulthood were stolen. I'm sure there are punitive damages included as well they should be.

Also, after 16 year of incarceration, this guy will be lucky not to have mental issues for years to come.

Just love our system of taxpayers pay for everything and those responsible for these 'mistakes' get to enjoy their salaries and pensions. Taxpayers pay for a political hungry and win at all cost DA to get his name in print. DA goes into politics and continues to get his salaries and benefits. Prisoner is proven innocent and gets 25 million in damages and taxpayers pay. Ex-DA never gets to pay for his-her mistakes and continues to get pension. NICE system we have. The taxpayers get screwed no matter what.

@ Joe4Obama - Totally agree. Taxation without accountability!

Danny-2987019

Let's stick your butt in jail for 16 years and then see if 25 mill is enough. I spent a year in jail when I was 16 for a crime I did not commit. Went for a ride with a fried in his new car and the DA would not beleive him or I that I did not know he stole it. I am now 58 years old and it still haunts me. A billion dollars is not enough for the time they take from you. And at 16 I was beaten nearly to death and raped several times in that year. There is no way to repay this man for what they took from him, they are lucky to have gotten off for the small amount they did.

@ Danny-2987019

Why couldn't he have earned 25 million in 16 years? You don't know what his potential could have been had he not spent the last 16 years in jail. He could have been the US President had he not gone to jail for a crime he didn't commit.

You also have to remember that this award is not just for past earnings, but future ones too. His time in jail has seriously affected his ability to live in a society that has become foreign to him after all of these years. Not to mention the fact that he was in jail, and even though he is innocent, there is still a stigma attached to anyone who spent time in jail, regardless of what their crime, or lack of crime was.

Personally I think he deserves much more than 25 million.

Let's be thankful that there wasn't a death sentence attached to him. They could have found out about his innocence too late.

Ron I would be willing to bet that well over half the people posting on this board have been 'in possession' of illegal drugs at one time or the other.

I don't do that crap, though I had something slipped into my drink at a football game at college (He was thrown out of college over it)

Over 50% of High School Seniors have used illegal drugs (CDC-NIH), so the number would only rise from that as people get older and some try them at College age or later. So you need to get off your high horse a bit, it does not say he was selling (and it would had he had enough quantity) but just possessing. I don't defend his use, but I figure by the time people are 30 that somewhere in the range of 70-75% have done them. (Could not find that stat). And with what he went through in prison and the exposure I certain he had to drugs in there, it is not sup rising at all. The prosecutors put him in a shark tank, don't blame him for getting bitten.

at 13 he was innocent (probably not a drug user at that age) Now you blame him for what our justice system made him into.

IReadyou: I agree. When it can be shown that some kind of misconduct resulted in a wrongful conviction and subsequent lawsuit/payout the responsible parties should be held responsible. But then we are talking about cops and lawyers who rarely get charged and prosecuted (no matter how awful their crimes were) and they know how to manipulate the system. If you or I did something that cost taxpayers 25 million dollars I bet the justice system would be coming at us with pitchforks and torches!

The award is not just to pay him his 'back salary' it is to compensate him for a lost life. He missed out on High School, College, Dating, Marriage etc...all which most do by the time they are 30...Maybe he can pick up the pieces if he can get through the horror of the hell he was living. Probably not.

Over half his life has been spent with criminals, and these prosecutors put him there. And they and/or the cops lied and cheated to do so. They are the real criminals.

I certainly hope he decides now to stop using drugs and I'm very glad the case was won for him. All to many times when the innocent are convicted I think they spend the rest of their lives paying for someone elses crime and the only people who care are their families.

but the COMPLETELY innocent don't usually get caught up in these kinds of miscarriages

May we please see the citation where you got this information at? Or is this your way of blaming the victim?

Wonder what he will do with all that money, probably get locked up for real next time..

I wish him all the best..

R. Scalzo: You have an absolutely ignorant understanding of American criminal trials. There is no way to defend against fabricated evidence. Come on. One of the witnesses recanted. There is no possible way for an attorney to know a witness is later going to recant. The tape of the confession was newly-discovered evidence. Was the defense attorney supposed to magically look into the future to see this? Furthermore, our public defenders are vastly under-paid and inadequately resourced. They handle thousands of cases a year and put in 70, 80, sometimes 100 hours a week. Their extremely dedicated public servants and very good lawyers but we've stretched them too far. Throughout the whole country, we've consciously chosen to underfund public defense.

JS in SD: Yes, like most jury awards, the courts will reduce this one. It's a statutory award - Illinois is one of the few states with a statute awarding monetary damages for wrongful convictions. My state, Minnesota, for example, does not have one. If you're wronfully convicted of a crime in MN and are subsequently exonerated - we've had three in recent history - you have absolutely no monetary recourse. The courts are obligated to address the reasonableness of a jury award. That's why you see these crazy headlines where a jury has awarded $100 gazillion dollars without any follow up regarding the court's obligated reduction. Where you're wrong is in your statement that the attorneys get there cut. In a statutory award of monetary damages for a wrongful conviction there is absolutely no mechanism by which an attorney gets a cut. You confuse the laws of post-conviction with the contractual relationships of tort plaintiffs to tort lawyers. Tort lawyers negotiate with potential clients for a percentage cut of any award the lawyers may be able to get the client. 30% is a typical amount. The clients enter into these agreements with their lawyers as an alternative to paying them an hourly rate or an up-front sum. Tort lawyers charge nothing and pay all the litigation costs in exchange for a percentage of the award. This process allows access to the justice system for people who can't afford to pay their attorneys up-front. Post-conviction lawyers do not work on contingency bases. Most post-conviction attorneys work at non-profit organizations for a regularly salary and provide pro-bono services to prisoners. Jimenez' attorneys are getting no cut of this award.

There have been 280 post-conviction exonerations so far in American history and this number is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of innocent people languishing in our prisons. The vast majority of these exonerated prisoners have received absolutely nothing. The average term of incarceration for a wrongfully convicted prisoner is 8 years. Prison is not easy. Being incarcerated for something you did not do is a horrible proposition. And it could happen to anyone. Jimenez' award is a good precedent. It also sends a good message to the police and the prosecutors that there is a monetary repurcussion for arresting, convicting, and incarcerating innocent people. The police and the public need to know that if the police go after the wrong person the tax payers may have pay for it. It's time we tell our law enforcement that we're not going to stand for their laziness and their prejudices. Having a badge does not give one all-encompassing power. We simply cannot stand for our police failing to look into all suspects and down all avenues of evidence. We have to strip away the incentives of going after the first suspect. It's laziness. They have one suspect and just want to get the file off their desks. It's not right. There has to be a way to incentivize our law enforcement to do a good, thorough job. Innocent people should not have to languish in prison.

This is an area that needs serious and immediate judicial reform. The very fact that district attorneys at the city and state level are not clamoring for it is all the proof you need of how much it needs to be changes.

Over the years, police, prosecurors, and even judges have built an elaborate system of "shield" laws that basically say that you cannot go after these people in criminal court, no matter how egregious the misconduct.

These shield laws need to be replaced by "proxy" laws that in effect say that it there is investigative, prosecutorial or judicial misconduct that results in a wrongful conviction, that not only is the person wrongfully convicted entitled to compensation, the person or persons who engaged in the misconduct would be liable to same sentence as the person convicted, up to and including the death penalty. The time the wrongfully convicted actually served would be the minimum time the proxy would have to serve to be eligible for parole. If the person was wrongfully executed because of misconduct, the proxy would be sentenced to life without parole.

NYC did a study a couple of decades on what is in those briefcases that policeman are always putting in the trunks of their patrol cars. he police always contended it was only their lunch and paperwork. But in almost 40% of the cases, the case contained "sanitized" handguns, knives, and small amounts of drugs, especially crack cocaine. These were called "throwaways." If the police shot someone and he was unarmed, a throwaway gun made it must more obvious that he needed to be shot. If you banged a drug dealer and he wasn't holding, the cop could fix that. If you needed to escalate a robbery to an armed robbery, nothing better than a knife. All without fingerprints and carefully stored in pastic bags. And never traceable back to the cop. The fact that it is so prevalent shows how widespread this sort of misconduct is.

Many times the police or prosecutors believe that they have "caught their man" especially in higher profile cases. And, in order to secure a conviction, they withhold evidence, create evidence, intimidate witnesses, etc. They don't do it out of meanness, they do it because they believe the person is guilty and they just don't want the jury to be "confused" by conflicting evidence.

The best reason for abandoning the death penalty is the fact that studies have concluded that somewhere between 1 in 7 and 1 in 15 convicted felons, including capital cases, are actually innocent of the crime as charged. It is the prevalence of investigative, prosecutorial, and judicial misconduct along with weaknesses in the public defender system that make the death penalty impossible to administer with equity and a reasonable certainty that innocent people are not executed.

But in the meanwhile we can send crooked police, prosecutors and judges to prison to take their place. As a suggestion, I would like to suggest that it be called the Nancy Grace Law, since the is the person who constantly spouts the nonsense that if person is arrested that is sufficient to presume guilt.

@DANNY ; SOMETIMES , THE LEGAL SYSTEM GETS THINGS ALL WRONG ; this is a small price to pay, if you would have taken my 13 year old baby, and subjected him to years of mental anguish. hey don't worry about the mental trama the parents went thru. hearing their child professing his inocents , to a muted system. cities collect this type of money daily, so don't you fret , your pay check won't be affected as bad as this child has been effected. GOD BLESS YOU

Yay! Now he can blow our tax dollars on drugs! or use it to get himself out of his next conviction! woohoo!

@StateAtty - What are you talking about, the attorney will most certainly get his cut. You even contradicted yourself. Attorneys almost always take cases like this on contingency and get a percentage of any award they win. Typically they get expenses plus one third of the remaining award after the expenses are deducted. If you are really what you name claims, you should know this and realize that there was nothing incorrect in my post.

Stateatty: very nicely put. I'm glad it worked out for him to be found innocent.

If we tell ourselves it's not that awful if someone who isn't completely innocent is wrongfully convicted, then we are giving prosecutors and cops carte blanche to simply pick a perp out of the rabble and proceed with convicting them.

It is also the fact that prosecutors do not face criminal responsibility even for egregious abuses of their positions--who is the southern (Louisiana?) prosecutor (father of someone famous) who won an appeals decision basically letting him off the hook for some pretty loathsome prosecutorial abuses?

JS in SD - You rightfully stated the award will likely be lowered. It probably will be as most are. It is also another blatant violation of the Bill of Rights".

Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

As for you who think a Public Destroyer errr, Public Defender has his clients best interest in mind I say to you "BULL FEATHERS". Most are in league with he same broken judicial system that pays their salary.

Ron4978205, I had the same thought initially. That was my gut reaction - he wasn't clean-cut then and now that he's out, went right back to his life of crime (just maybe not that murder). But then I thought for another minute or two... He was a 13-year-old boy when he was locked away for a crime he didn't commit. I can't even begin to imagine his life behind bars, but I am quite sure they weren't pleasant at all. Being in jail took a 13-year-old boy and robbed him of ANY CHANCE he had at becoming a productive member of society, even if he was on the wrong track. He would have had a chance to make choices and change his future. Now, he has no education and works at a fast food joint. Most of the people he knew have moved on and his "friends" are probably from the clink. This guy was robbed and now he may have turned to drugs. I'm certainly not saying the kid was an angel. There's SOME reason he was a suspect. But I feel bad for him and would give him a little leeway in my heart on the drug charge (although the law is what it is - he may go back to the slammer). It's just a very, very sad case.

Whatever the award thiscase brought to light how unfairly our lawyers and cops are. They make up a case and then follow through to prove no matter if the proof is fabricated or not.

I think that the time has come for prosecutors/lawyers to dig into facts even if they have a pre-fabricated case against another. In this instance their case was frabricated and still they continued with the prosecution simply to because they didn't the truth! The Prosecutor is GUILTY OF FAILING TO DO HIS/HER JOB AND FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THE TRUTH AND PROSECUTE THE REAL CRIMINAL---

AND WE ARE SUPPOSED TO TRUST THEM--HA!

Wow, Mr. Citizen... your final comment exposes your complete ignorance of the judicial system.

Not only will the lawyers take expenses and a fee but the IRS will take almost half becasue it is unearned income - that's half BEFORE the lawyers take their part. He may end up in debt big time. I have read about an increasing number of cases where the IRS has done so.

One of those rare "feel good" stories. Right up till the last sentence;

In December 2011, Jimenez was convicted of illegally possessing drugs and now faces up to three years in prison at his sentencing Feb. 1.

dano-3878024

"Wonder what he will do with all that money, probably get locked up for real next time.."

First, he will never see more than about one-tenth of that money.

Second, when's the last time you saw anyone with $25M get locked up, unless they are swindling people with even more money like Madoff, or have been robbing banks for ten years.

And 16 years in prison, two-thirds of your life: you don't think that's "for real"?

What ever time they give him for the drugs should be taken out of the 16 years he already spent in jail!

This man should not spend one more day in jail.

It was a horrible injustice 13 years ago, but the COMPLETELY innocent don't usually get caught up in these kinds of miscarriages. He's now facing drug charges. ... but it sounds like he might have been trouble before he went in.

It is irrelevant whether he was a choir boy or not. We aren't supposed to convict people of a crime simply because they MIGHT be guilty of SOMETHING.

@SRMcHahon.. I agree with you. How is this any different than the Phillip Garrido kidnaping and false imprisionment of Jaycee Dugard? An abducted child who was kept in a cage for 18 years and raped. Garrido recieved 431 years for his crime. I say lock that sick prosecutor up forever.

This money makes him eligible for the new Obama tax of 30%....if it passes.

Joe, Sorry for the injustice you've suffered. If you have moved on and took control of your life then you are a better person than the rest of the Monday morning quarterbacks here. I wish you all the best.

Scalzo, I'm glad to hear that you have complete faith in your public defender; enjoy your stay at Rikers.

Why would a judge give a 13 year old such harsh sentence? Something is rotten through and through. At 13, he should have been sent to juvenile facility and then probation. To be framed and spend 16 years in prison sure would make any one angry at our justice system and at life in general. The compensation is for the life he would have had if he wasn't falsely convicted. Who knows he could have been another Steve Jobs!

People are commenting about the fact that he just got a drug possession charge. REALLY? Lets see, wrongfully imprisoned at 13, released at 29, now at 30 he gets a drug charge. YOU spend all you formative years in an American penal system and if the WORST you have is a drug dependency (and they don't mention the drug. Could be as little as marijuana for a 3 year sentence), consider yourself lucky.....

I had a friend who's brother was wrongfully convicted for a murder he did not commit. The sad thing that most wont think about is. That this guy is probably institutionalized. He most likely wont be out long. to enjoy the amount he'll actually get.

My friends brother could not cope with being outside the prison walls. He robbed a store just to go back. Crazy thing is. With his settlement he did not even need the money. Just wanted to go back to where he felt safe. More than likely PTSD

That is the crazy part of it. Hope someone helps this guy beyond money.

I will start by saying this...I'm sure that he was not a "choir boy" at the time this happened. It was gang related. BUT...wrongfully convicted at 13 OMG!! I don't care who you are, if you are put in an adult prison at 13, you are not coming out good. Someone posted about how long it took for someone to make him their "friend". No doubt. This child is probably more screwed up now coming out than when he went in. And for nothing!! I'm not saying that if he was in gangs that at some point he wouldn't have gotten caught, but none of us knows that for certain, and to wrongfully convict him the courts made sure he would screwed up. They owe him regardless.

joesfrom cali, I have known people that have done the same thing. If you lock someone up long enough, they don't know how to live in society. Our system is SO messed up. We don't rehabilitate these people and prepare them to join the world. Most people say why should we bother? Well, for one reason, they WILL BE free someday and personally I would like them living next to me better when they come out than when they went in. They go in bad and come out so much worse. It is very sad and inhuman. No wonder people re-offend. We don't teach them or counsel them. AND...I will say that there are some who SHOULD NEVER get out. Unfortunately not our choice, and if they are going to get out, let's at least protect the public by helping them come out better.

See? Everybody doesn't like people who do illegal drugs. Until it is their own kid. Then, AW HE DIDN'T MEAN IT! HE'LL BE GOOD! And that's when the money comes in. Have enough? Get your drug using kid off. Don't, he goes to jail. And for anyone who says they don't feel that way about their own kid, I call BS.

So the POINT is this guy was wrongly convicted. Just because you did something else wrong doesn't excuse you from either prosecution on that point or make you a villain for something you didn't do. Or haven't you heard we have a fair and equitable judicial system. If you don't believe in it, Saudi Arabia has this great system where they cut off your body parts. You could go live there, and hope you aren't wrongly convicted of something there.....

$25 million is certainly to punish the system itself for wronging this man. I think part of it should come out of the DAs pocket.

I hope that law enforcement pays attention to this, instead of trying to cover their butts! They did the wrong thing not only to that young man (and his family) who was sent to prison and robbed him of 16 years of his young life. They also WRONGED the victim and his family as well! I would be mad as hell if my son was killed and come to find out the police purposefully allowed his killer to escape punishment.

StateAtty, thank you for shedding some light much needed. Most people are ignorant regarding the IN-Justice system in the US. Most defendants are tried in the court of public opinion and by what they look like way before they ever get to trial. Prosecutors care less about innocents vs. guilt and more about conviction rates. If I am not mistaken, I am assuming most innocent people convicted of crimes and incarcerated are guilty of being stupid and have fallen prey to this system ... and as we all have seen time and again, a system that can be bought.

I know personally, a family member was sent away so that his ex wife who worked at a law firm could get his farm, his money and that extra satisfaction of ruining his life like she always threatened but he never took seriously. Set up and with his children turned against him for the promise of money, his lawyer who had been paid in advance coerced him into a plea for something he did not do. The INJustice system works for the people that run it... and it's very lucrative apparently!

@Derek 381097 "Or haven't you heard we have a fair and equitable judicial system. If you don't believe in it, Saudi Arabia has this great system where they cut off your body parts. You could go live there, and hope you aren't wrongly convicted of something there"

I would think losing a finger or two would be preferable to spending years (especially as a teenage boy) in a prison system where condoning homosexual rape is the norm. Our "justice" system at times is nothing but a pimp agency for homorape.You can, of course, survive better if you go aqlong with the mandatory training in the criminal arts provided by your fellow inmates.

He should have only be awarded the amount of welfare benefits he would have received over those years, though he did get free housing, food and medical. Should have been a wash.

Here's another perfect example of how the prosecutorial aspect of our judical system is screwed up! There's absolutely no prosecutorial accountability. Police and DA's accross the entire country have free riegn accuse, manipulate the evidence, and then permenantly ruin the lives of innocent people, as well as their families, with little or no fear of retribution. Even here they don't get punished for their actions with the fine, the people of Chicago do.

Seriously, how many out there truly believe they'd have a snowballs chance in the desert if a cop and a prosecutor really had it in for you? Innocent until proven guilty is only a lie or manipulation away!

@Andy Ritch - what "new" tax? I already pay 30% for taxes, as does everyone else in the middle class! The only people calling this a "new" tax are the 1% (their rate averages around 10-15%)!

Joe for Obama, the police and DA didn't make a mistake! They did what they did with intent and malice; he was innocent yet, they went out of their way to prove he was just because they could.

LMAO! Love that "Final Thought'. The guy was a thug back in the 90's and is still a thug as exampled by the very last sentence of the article. With all the gangbangers killing other gangbangers everyday, the police don't really care which gangbanger pulled the trigger and neither do I. Lie with dogs and you're gonna get flees. This piece of trash deserves a multi-million dollar settlement like Obama needs a "socialism for dummies" book. All you whiners out there that say things like "If it was you....blah, blah, blah" are morons. It wouldn't be ME because I am a responsible citizen and don't associate myself with people who use/sell drugs, murder and steal. I will never be in the situation that would make the court system think it was possible for me to have committed the public servi.....errr...."crime" of shooting a drug dealing, thieving piece of crap.

I could not agree with you more AlienMartian!!! hence my post:

"This loser is a thug and doesn't deserve anythig but to stay in jail. He was obviously in a gang, and was probably there when the person was killed anyway. Now he has drug charges?!! People (LIBTARDS) WAKE THE F_UP!!!!!"

Barriote, "/sarc" is a tag to denote sarcasm. Yes, I was being sarcastic.

yeah, but the only ones that are going to pay in this case are the residents of Chicago (city taxes).

And the money that this guy gets looks like it is going to go straight into the hands of crimminals (drug dealers).

shame.

it's interesting that you say you know where the money's going. and can you honestly blame him? he's spent 16 years, which was more than HALF his lifetime before he was released, surrounded by criminals... murderers, thieves, rapists, etc... instead of going to school (or whatever he would have done otherwise). crime is what he knows. and, if he really is innocent of the murder charge, then i ask again: can you honestly blame him?

$25m isn't the total cost of all of this.

And the money that this guy gets looks like it is going to go straight into the hands of crimminals (drug dealers).

Really? And you are clairvoyant ... or perhaps just bigoted.

No Beth, he just read the story. Last sentence in the article.

In December 2011, Jimenez was convicted of illegally possessing drugs and now faces up to three years in prison at his sentencing Feb. 1.

"And the money that this guy gets looks like it is going to go straight into the hands of crimminals (drug dealers)."

Really? And you are clairvoyant ... or perhaps just bigoted.

Well, he is already facing another three years for drugs after his initial release so it's an educated guess.

Yeah, if he had gotten $100 million, like little George W Bush, he would have been able to support a cocaine and alcohol addiction for 15 years and still not spend it all. $25 million just doesn't go very far anymore.

I read it. Still a blatantly bigoted assumption.

Bigoted? How?? The story says he's probably going back to jail on drug charges.

Of course it is Chicago, he could be being set up by the cops again, most things in Chicago are crooked, look at their mayor, heck, look at our president.

No Beth, it isn't. It really, truly isn't.

Well you have to wonder what his life was like for those 16 yrs in jail. He GREW UP in jail. It's sad to "assume" he picked up lots of bad habits, either it be drugs or just social skills...But we should all know he didnt come out clean. So I agree its a little terrifying to know an innocent crimial gets all that money. We can only hope he uses it for good.

Here we go, blame the victim. After being locked up for 16 years, I am surprised that getting caught with POSSESSION is the only thing that has resulted in this.

Grow up. I would like to see how you would turn out if you were in his shoes with no education, no family/friends, and no freedom for those 16 years even as an adult. He was a KID for 5 of those years.

One of those rare "feel good" stories. Right up till the last sentence;

In December 2011, Jimenez was convicted of illegally possessing drugs and now faces up to three years in prison at his sentencing Feb. 1.

YES AN------,

He was a kid when he was sent to Adult Prison where he must likely was raped and beaten regularily!

Was he offered treatment for dealing with such abuse NO! So he turned to drugs to help temper the pain---most likely anyone whow ent thru the hell that this young man went thru would do the same without getting therapy. Also as you all judge, curious what kind of drugs---for 3 years most likely Pot---big deal and what a cost to the taxpayers---the system caused his pain and now wish to relock him up for dealing with the horror that they caused!!!!!!!!

What a pathetic system!

Ann, nowhere is anyone blaming the victem, everyone here will agree that he was done dirty, people are just commenting that it is the taxpayer that is being punished with the 25m award, not the people who actually wronged the guy. And of course the irony that he has chosen to go to the wrong side of the law.

Silly- I hate to break it to you, but most prisons are not like what Hollywood makes them out to be.

Silly- I hate to break it to you, but most prisons are not like what Hollywood makes them out to be.

No, they're worse.

So Chum, you've been to prison since you speak with such authority? If you have not served time then there is no excuse for you for being so hateful and bitter. I happen to think our mayor and our President are doing a wonderful job given what was handed to them. You know nothing about Chicago except all the noise you heard from Fox News.

chumbkt there sure are quite a number of people on here blaming the victim! the tone of your posts doesn't incline me to excuse you from that group. but I have little doubt that the victim-blamers and judgers who are spouting off here are the exact same caliber of people who see nothing wrong with charging children of thirteen (or younger) as adults in the first place, and it is disgusting

Only the portion of a law suit for income lost is taxable, which is the is case is probably none.

And fees are either being donated or he will be billed normally. Old man, get your facts right and quit making such stupid broad claims based on nothing but your old timer cynicism.

How you got from $25M to $1.3M is a joke, this person will get nearly all of the settlement.

if you need to think that to get through the day, then keep thinking that, oldman.

These awards are tax free, as Scott indicated. The only thing taxable, will be the interest. Even the lost wages isn't usually dinged, since it is not an award that is itemized, and broke down that way. The lawyers do, however, generally get 40%, if it goes to trial (which it did), and the costs of the defense come out of the lawyers portion. Unless, as Scott indicated, they are donated, and a deal was struck prior to the suit being filed. Also, the funds are placed in an account, and will await his release. While in there, they will accrue interest. So, after 3 years (less for early release), there will be more than there was after the lawyer got his. The person awarded, will be the only one able to collect any of it too, since it will be in his name. Unless, he signs it otherwise (which I hope he doesn't).

Actually, his number is probably right, the way he got to it, wrong.

1. Awards for damages are not taxable - correct.

2. Attorney's fees in cases like this can top 60%, not 40%, and perhaps be even more.

3. Attorney's "donating" their services in a suit like this? Make me laugh. Next thing you will tell me is that John Edwards did all those P.I. Cases to "help people" and not merely enrich himself.

4. The award will be reduced *severely* on appeal, or the two sides will "settle" for a lot less - probably well under $10M. The attorneys will take a lot less, hoping that cash in hand is better than the labor and risks of appeal. Appeals court judges tend to slash verdicts like this.

5. Mr. Jiminez is going to jail on drug charges, and likely won't enjoy the money for a while. How well a multi-millionaire will do in jail will remain to be seen - I suspect it will make him a target for abuse by the other inmates and guards.

6. When poor people have money thrown at them, it rarely sticks for long. I suspect in 5-10 years, he will be broke, like most lottery winners are.

7. While Mr. Jiminez might not have been guilty of that crime, I suspect he hardly was an innocent - likely a gang member, and as his recent drug conviction illustrates, a criminal. It is not like they yanked an honor student from class and sent him up the river. VERY FEW of these "wrongly convicted" people were folks not involved in some criminal activities - which is why they are suspects in the first place.

Short answer, $25 million doesn't make up for 18 years in jail. But there are few innocents in this scenario and no "happily ever afters" either. If you want to avoid being wrongly convicted, stay out of gangs, drugs, and crime in general.

And stay out of Cook County!

I can assure you 100% that the attorneys involved in this matter are not working on a contingency basis. These lawyers are post-conviction attorneys working pro-bono. They receive their yearly salaries. Not percentages of awards. Furthermore, attorneys who do negotiate with their clients for a percentage cut of the potential award very rarely get 40%. That's an ignorant assumption. The average rate is 30% - trial and all - and most usually get negotiated down to around 20%.

scottw714 40% of 25 mil.....is 1.5 mil???????????? where did you go to school???????

I'd like to see 60 minutes or 20/20 pick up this story.

These awards are not tax free - they used to be - but the IRS now considers them "unearned income" and taxes them at the highest rate. Plus lawyers fees are not considered to be a business expense since the income is unearned and therefore any expense related to getting it is not deductable. Several cases similar to this have been in the news for the last several years and several people have ended up in debt as a result.

Sorry Stateatty, mine wasn't an "ignorant assumption", but a statement based on facts of prior personal experience. The average attorney rate here is 40% for in court, and 25%-30% for settled before being filed with the courts. No taxes paid on the settlement my family received from a case a few years back. IRS doesn't label it "unearned income." As with most things, it likely varies from region to region.

I obviously don't know much about this man, but someone who was incarcerated throughout his teenage years and twenties, and then worked for minimum wage at Sonic, is likely going to have a hard time handling any major amount of money.

Wouldn't be surprised if he blows it all and ends up in prison, since he basically grew up around criminals.

It also doesn't mention that this award won't stand. It will go to appeal and get severely sliced. It's called remittitur and it's very common.

You cannot tell a jury what is reasonable or acceptable so we get big jury awards (though not as big as they were in the 80s relatively speaking) which are then appropriately reduced by the appellate court. But the media won't cover that story. It's too common. Big numbers mean big sensationalist headlines and that means big readership and big ad deals. Most cases end with adequate compensation, but that's not much of a story is it?

He was 13yrs old. WHat kind of salary do you believe he might have made on a paper route? This is fair and just. It happens all too often. Cops get focused on one person as the criminal and create evidence to prove it. THe county and state officials are all responsible for this.

So if you were wrongfully convicted you would only want 16 times your minimum wage job?

Janine, what would he have reasonably made had he not been wrongfully convicted? Let's say he was a good baseball player, even then his chances of getting a major league contract are slim. What would have been reasonable would be about $500,000 to $1,000,000 and that too is probably high.

A 13 year old doesn't have a salary. It is entirely possible(not probable but in theory) that he could have turned his life around graduated highschool and college with honors and went on to become a business man making millions.

Cliff, when I first started my career, I made $12 dollars per hour. Ten years later, I made 4x that. So, if I was falsely accused at the start of my career, I would be given far less than I would have actually earned in that time. Not to mention I would be missing job experience and career advancement and would come out of prison after 16 years and get a job paying what I used to make, not what I would be making after a 16 year career.

Your suggestion is complete naive.

Cliff, are you that dense or just completely biased against anyone filing a lawsuit? Did you comprehend the facts presented in the article? This victim of injustice was a THIRTEEN YEAR OLD BOY when he was arrested and convicted of MURDER! Are you too old to recall what you were like at 13? Can you conceive of being accused and convicted of murder at that age? What price would you attach to being wrongfully incarcerated for 16 years? The jury got it right in this case. The victim of this miscarriage of justice is still being victimized as a grown man. He is apparently having difficulty adjusting to not being an inmate. Try doing sixteen years in prison, then tell us what losing your freedom is worth.

you're an idiot.

16 times his salery? He was 13 at the time and may have grown up to be a CEO of a major corporation making 200 million a year. We will never know now. 25 million was cheap for what they did.

Cliff: You really think that being jailed for 16 years while innocent, missing high school, the opportunity to go to college with your peers, maybe get into a relationship and married is worth nothing (the typical salary of a 13 year old). This kid got most of his education from prison. His future is bleak. Imagine, if you have that capability, of putting yourself in that position, or a child of yours. You would expect nothing?

The lawyers will get more than 35% - a lot more. Often they take more than half, with fees and expenses, sometimes most of it.

I agree this man deserves the award, however, average salary loss for 16 yrs plus statute tort awards do not equal 25 million. Who is going to pay for this?? The tax payer????

Well, 16 years at what the average guy would have made between 13 and 29, plus tort, plus interest. Besides, the Chicago taxpayer should foot the bill, they probably voted the DA in and put up with the abuses of power in the city.

As you all bitch and bicker about the money he got---I wonder how many of you poo rjealsous souls have ever been locked up at the age of 13 with a bunch of men!

You are worried because he got the money and YOU DIDN"T!

No compassion for this young man, no soul, only envy-----What a sad group of humans you are-----bitching about the money rather than the injustice!

The award should have been 16 times his salary from the day of his arrest and not one cent more.

I'm sure that the jury didn't intend to merely compensate him for his lost income. They were attempting to compensate him for his lost LIFE. I'm surprised at people who equate prison solely with forgone income.

Brook, He spent the past 16yrs in a cage. For something he didn't do. There is no payment high enough to pay for that. Whether he would have grown up to be a bum on the street or a Wall street CEO we will never know. He wasn't given the chance to fine out.

Cliff didn't read the articale did you 13 when he went to jail. So guess what surprise he didn't have a job.

Yep.

the award isnt based on his salary or maybe even potential salary. it is based on punishing the system that allowed this to happen. the tax payer is on the hook because they paid the police salary that wornfully convicted this man. demand higher of those who claim to protect and serve and the tax payer will not be on the hook again.

yeah the same taxpayers who elected the jerks who railroaded this guy...those taxpayers?

Yep. Sadly, there will be no accountability for the perps who actually committed the crime against this guy. Which will only reinforce their behavior. Proper accountability would have them serving the same 16 years in the same cell.

Angry Guy could not agree more if those where my own words.

Exactly - they need to do more than just throw him out into the world with $25 million dollars. He's spent his most influential years of life around criminals - he needs counseling and help adjusting, not just money.

And the opportunity to learn how to make his money grow. Especially since he probably wont get his money in 1 lump sum and taxes and attorney fees will eat a large chunk out of it.

I am the only one who suspects that he may have been "framed" on the drug possession to be found guilty just before the jury reached a verdict to make him seem "guilty" of something. Would love to see the story on that arrest. It is Chicago after all. The cops there are infamous for this type of behavior. He was THIRTEEN when he was arrested and spent SIXTEEN YEARS in prison, I think Chicago got off lucky that it wasn't more!

So true. Our system does almost nothing in the realm of rehabilitation of criminals. You go to prison here, you learn how to be a better criminal.

Ryan, you cannot be serious with your comment. You are wondering what the prison system taught a bot wrongfully convicted and imprisoned from the age of 13? What do you think he learned? That life is fair and just? The justice system strives to find the truth? No, he was taught that justice is whatever prosecutors, cops and judges say it is. He learned at a teribly young age that young boys can be convicted of murder and sent to prison for life. He learned that the wealthy and famous can pay for a good defense and get away with crime. The poor and sometimes innocent get convicted. After 16 years in jail are you really surprised that he may now live on the wrong side of the law? He needs to get out of Illinois and start life over far from any of this madness...

But isn't that what the prison system is supposed to do, counsel and adjust and "fix" wrongdoers? Yay for the prison system.

Maybe if you commit a crime and then are found 'not guilty' you can clear yourself. Dude. Think outside the box a little.

Derek, go visit East Texas Legal Services in Nacogdoches. Or visit their website at lonestarlegal.org, if your facts pan out they'll help.

Similar thing happened to my neice. Just turned 18, senior in HS, honor student, newspaper editor, ROTC, numerous clubs and plans to go to colege. Charge was made, (it was BS) which immediately marked her with a "felony pending" status. Because of that she lost her grants and scholarships, could not get an apartment, a car loan, or decent job. Justice system dragged out the issue for over 2 years before dropping all the charges. It took nearly another year to get them to take the "felony pending" off her record.

This whole experience derailed what should have been a successful young woman. It is harder to go back to school now that she is supporting herself, although she does take night classes. Basically all because an idiot cop made a mistake and would not own up to it.

That's what always strikes me as odd in these cases. Prosecutors are licensed attorneys, and I believe if all these allegations prove to be true, an attorney can have his/her license to practice disciplined (suspended, fined, revoked, etc...). People should also definitely be fired for not doing their jobs very well and causing huge financial liability to their employer.

Except that people who never had much money (and he went from the age of 13 having probably little or no money for sixteen years, and has been working at a Sonic since then, so he probably qualifies) are often not very good at managing it. It's really hard to grasp how much money you have when the sum is a ridiculously huge amount, which is one of the reasons why lottery winners often run into major trouble in the few years after they win. You get a big sum and if you're not careful you run the risk of losing your head. I know I would. That's what financial planners are for, though.

Did the prison system force him to take drugs? Although it cannot be proven at this point, but what are the chances he would have been a drug user if he hadn't gone to prison?

At 13 in prison you go along or get beat down or killed. If they offered him drugs in prison he would have been wise to go along and do them.

the guys that did the strong arming are the people that should be headed to jail now.

LOL!! You can't take the idiot of of a moron. You are in prison for something you didn't do. You end up getting a huge financial settlement. You've been around nothing but criminals for the past 16 years, and were most likely exposed to criminal elements in your youth. Next to no rehabilitation is provided in prison. You've not experienced the outside world as an adult, and at the age of 30 still have never had the responsibility of making adult decisions. The state sets you free with no thought to ensuring you're socially or emotionally equipped to handle life on the outside.

Pete, you posted a pile of crap in your attempt to rationalize a WRONGFUL CONVICTION. You should read your post again. You seem to justify his arrest and prosecution because he may have already been known to police (at 13!). You cannot see the forest for the trees. Do you realize that whatever he may have done does not justify his arrest, conviction and imprisonment for something he did not do? His past history is not relevant. He did not commit the murder for which he was railroaded. What is your problem with that fact?

Mikeyknows, your screen name doesn't fit your comment. Who was more gullible, the jury that convicted an innocent BOY or the jury that awarded him compensation? You think that juries are not aware that taxpayers untimately pay for these wrongful conviction awards? Who paid to arrest, convict and imprison this young man? Have you any idea how much tax money is spent just on corrections/prisons in this country? Shouldn't you be more concerned that more and more people are being found innocent after long incarcerations?

I'd highly doubt the juries consider that it is the taxpayers who pay the awards.

When you state more and more people, NB, what percentage of those who were convicted are found to be wrongfully convicted?

What would you suggest, mikeyknows? I doubt the jury was given the option of finding the cops and prosecutor guilty of witness and evidence tampering.

State And Federal Prosecutors Are Allowed To Run Wild By The Courts And State Bar Associations
by Justice Denied - the magazine for the wrongly convicted on Monday, December 12, 2011 at 5:27pm.By Hans Sherrer

Anyone who has read Justice Denied for any length of time is aware that the conviction of an innocent person in the United States is rarely the result of a mistake by the prosecution. The overwhelming majority of cases in which a person has been exonerated involved prosecutors who deliberately concealed exculpatory evidence and/or remained silent while one or more witnesses provided perjurious or misleading testimony. Prosecutors are required by the federal constitution to disclose all potentially favorable exculpatory and impeachment evidence under Brady v. Maryland, 373 US 83 (1963) and its progeny, and it is black letter law in this country under Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U.S. 103 (1935) and its progeny that the federal constitutional prohibits a prosecutor from "knowingly" using perjurious testimony.

John T. Floyd (johntfloyd.com) When the illicit conduct of prosecutors who obtain a conviction by concealing evidence and/or presenting perjurious testimony is exposed, the most that can normally be expected from state and federal judges is to overturn the conviction and give the offending prosecutors the opportunity to retry the very defendant that they had framed. Sometimes in overturning a conviction the judges will scold the prosecutors as naughty, but that is no deterrent for the prosecutors to engage in similar illicit conduct during a retrial of that case, and in other cases they are involved in. Likewise, it is almost as often that one sees a pig fly as it is for a state bar association to seriously discipline the "unethical" conduct by a prosecutor that caused the conviction of an innocent person. In addition prosecutors are absolutely immune from civil liability for any of thier conduct in prosecuting a person they know is innocent, even if it results in that person's execution. To top it off, prosecutors are effectively immune from criminal prosecution no matter how many laws they violate in the course of prosecuting an innocent person -- even if their criminal conduct results in the execution of an innocent person. As the Roman poet Juvenal asked: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? ("Who will guard the guards themselves?") In this country the answer is no one.

Consequently, state and federal prosecutors know they are generally able to run wild in framing an innocent person with no expectation of any negative legal, professional, financial, or criminal consequences.

This is not a new situation. In 1999 Justice Denied published two articles I wrote about the lawlessness of state and federal prosecutors in the United States: "Prosecutorial Lawlessness is its Real Name" and, "Prosecutors are Masters at the Art of Framing People."

Houston lawyer John T. Floyd and paralegal Billy Sinclair lay bare in their recent article, "The Ethical Implications Of A Brady Violation," that what is euphemistically called "prosecutorial misconduct" is so rampant in this country that it "is fast becoming a norm in our criminal justice system." Their article is well worth taking the time to read by clicking here.

The only exception I take to their article is the subtitle that refers to prosecutors who engage in "wrongful conduct" as "rogue prosecutors," when they are the norm, while prosecutors who scrupulously follow the law and protect a defendant's rights that are necesary to ensure a fair trial are the rarity.

Does make you wonder, don't it?

wouldn't be the first time he was framed.. given the corruption in Chicago once I got paid I'd move. The police will have it out for him, guaranteed.

They hate to "lose" or get caught cheating.

Judges, Attorneys, and Police Officers don't write laws, dummy!