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A 61-year-old Brooklyn, New York, man who spent 24 years in prison has been awarded $6 million to settle a federal lawsuit on a wrongful murder conviction, reports the New York Daily News.

The man, Derrick Deacon, was convicted of robbing and killing Anthony Wynn in April 1989 inside an East Flatbush building. He was identified by an eyewitness who received a $1,000 Crimestoppers reward for the tip from the New York Police Department. The conviction was tossed in 2012 after the eyewitness recanted the story and Deacon was granted a new trial, the report says:

Derrick Deacon was re-tried for the murder in 2013 by the office of then-Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, and the jury acquitted him after deliberating merely nine minutes.

“Based upon newly discovered evidence which implicated another man as the actual killer, the court vacated Mr. Deacon’s conviction and granted him a new trial,” Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city Law Department said in a statement.

[…]

“We have determined that a settlement of this civil suit is fair and in the best interests of the City.”

The $6 million award comes in addition to a $3.9 million settlement Deacon received from New York State for his decades of incarceration, writes the News.

Since gaining his freedom, Deacon has moved to another state and owns several businesses, the report notes.

SOURCE: New York Daily News | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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Chicago Killer’s Confession Leads To Release Of Wrongly Convicted Man Who Spent 20 Years In Prison

Wrongly Convicted Man Awarded $6 Million After 24 Years In Prison  was originally published on newsone.com