Articles of Interest: Former Pennsylvania Death Row Prisoner Jimmy Dennis Awarded Compensation After Years-Long Legal Battle

On April 25, 2024, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania jury award­ed $16 mil­lion to for­mer death row pris­on­er Jimmy Dennis (pic­tured), who was wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and spent 25 years in prison. Following nine days of tri­al, jurors deter­mined that the city of Philadelphia owes Mr. Dennis $10 mil­lion, and the two detec­tives who ​“engaged in mali­cious or wan­ton mis­con­duct” owe him an addi­tion­al $3 mil­lion each. Mr. Dennis was sen­tenced to death in 1991 for a mur­der he main­tained he could not have com­mit­ted, and in 2013, a fed­er­al judge over­turned his con­vic­tion, call­ing it a ​“grave mis­car­riage of justice.” 

While await­ing his retri­al, pros­e­cu­tors offered Mr. Dennis the oppor­tu­ni­ty to plead no con­test to a less­er charge and be released imme­di­ate­ly. In plead­ing no con­test, Mr. Dennis does not accept guilt and thus was per­mit­ted to sue the city of Philadelphia for police mis­con­duct. The two inves­ti­gat­ing offi­cers, Manuel Santiago and Frank Jastrzembski, are await­ing tri­al on per­jury charges stem­ming from a sep­a­rate case in which pros­e­cu­tors allege they lied on the wit­ness stand dur­ing a retrial.