Originally published by: Alan Johnson and the Columbus Dispatch
April 2, 2007
They each spent 26 years wrongfully imprisoned for the same crime, but prosecutors want to give Gary James less than half the $2.5 million settlement awarded to Timothy Howard.
The two East Side boyhood friends, falsely convicted of a 1976 bank robbery and murder, were separated last week after three decades when Howard, 53, died following a heart attack. He was buried Saturday.
At the same time, attorneys have been working on a settlement for James, also 53. Like Howard, he was released from prison in 2003 based on new information and evidence undisclosed at the original 1977 trial. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien has proposed an out-of-court settlement of no more than $1 million for James’ 26 years behind bars. Howard, on the other hand, was awarded a $2.5 million wrongful-incarceration settlement from the state last year, the largest in Ohio history.
James’ attorneys, James D. Owen,Rick Ketcham and Rick L. Brunner, rejected O’Brien’s offer.
If an agreement is not reached, James’ case will go to trial April 30 before Common Pleas Judge David Cain.
“We offered to try and mediate the amount and that was turned down,” Owen said. “Essentially, we were told that unless we made an offer that was less of 40 percent of what Tim got, we would be going to trial. If that’s what they want to do, fine, we’ll go to trial.”
Owen said O’Brien’s office would be”attempting to defend the indefensible” because James’ case would expose allegations of perjury by a police fingerprint expert as well as misconduct by Tom Jones, the now-retired lead investigator in the old case.
O’Brien declined to discuss negotiations, but he said he expects the matter will go to trial.
It was O’Brien who, in July 2003,dropped the charges against James “in the interest of justice” after James passed a polygraph administered by the State Highway Patrol. O’Brien insisted that James take the lie-detector test as a condition of his release.
Included with motions filed March 16by James’ attorneys are sworn statements from a Republican state legislator who said Ohio’s “wrongful incarceration” law was expanded in 2003specifically to cover procedural errors such as those in James’ case.
Rep. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati said in his affidavit that the law was amended so inmates seeking compensation would not be forced to go through a new court trial to get an “actual innocence” verdict if their conviction had procedural or substantive violations of due process.
James, who is working at an auto-parts business, said Howard’s death made him sad and fearful about his future.
“If I succumb, I lose,” he said. “I want to be secure.”
He remembered Howard’s generosity once he got his financial payback. James said Howard hooked up with four old friends from his prison days and bought each a $350 pair of shoes.
Link to article: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2007/03/27/GARYNEXT.ART_ART_03-27-07_A1_CD66UO8.html