Exonerated Ex-Prisoner Wins Misconduct Lawsuit Against Milwaukee Police

William Avery Was Freed In 2010 After DNA Evidence Proved He Was Not Guilty Of 1998 Murder

By
Ed Bierman (CC-BY)

A Milwaukee man who served six years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit won a million-dollar lawsuit against the city’s Police Department this week.

In 2005, William Avery was convicted of the 1998 strangling of Maryetta Griffin. However, he was freed in 2010 when DNA evidence proved serial killer Walter Ellis had actually committed the murder.

On Thursday, a federal jury ruled that police detectives fabricated Avery’s confession. The ruling concluded that police used testimony from people in prison to corroborate Avery’s alleged confession, although that testimony was later proved to be false.

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Such testimony is a factor in more than 60 percent of wrongful convictions in homicide cases, according to research from the University of Michigan Law School.

The same research also found that police misconduct occurs in 60 percent of the cases where someone is wrongfully convicted of murder. Keith Findley of Wisconsin Innocence Project said it’s not an entirely surprising figure — police and prosecutors are under tremendous pressure to solve murder cases quickly, something that often leads them to bend the rules to catch someone.

Avery’s attorney, John Stainthorp, said the money Avery won will help him start a home remodeling business. Stainthorp said that his client, now 43, got an associate’s degree in carpentry at Milwaukee Area Technical College after he was released and has been trying to start his own business — a difficult thing to do in the current economic climate, and even more so with a criminal record.

Stainthorp said that since his Avery’s release five years ago, the former prisoner has also been spending time rebuilding his relationship with his five children and two grandchildren.

“This is going to make a huge difference, and I feel confident that he’s going to be able handle this amount of money,” said Stainthorp. “He really seems to have come through a tough period of his life and now is able to put his life together.”

City officials are reviewing the verdict before deciding whether to appeal it.