Judge gives both sides until Tuesday to reach agreement
SYRACUSE -- The State of New York and attorneys for Roy Brown have until 10:00 am Tuesday to come up with a settlement over Brown's lawsuit for wrongful conviction. Brown is suing the state for $5 million in damages for the 15 years he spent in prison for a murder he did not commit. Court of Claims Judge Nicholas Midey, who is overseeing the lawsuit, has already ruled the state is liable for the wrongful conviction.
On Monday, Roger Williams of the State Attorney General's office revealed to Judge Midey that a "wrinkle" developed "overnight" in settlement talks with Brown. Neither, he, Roy Brown, nor Brown's attorneys would disclose what the nature of the problem.
If a settlement is not reached by Tuesday, Midey says he will begin a trial to set damages.
Roy Brown spent 15 years in prison after his conviction in 1992 for the murder of Cayuga County social worker Sabina Kulakowski. He was freed after DNA evidence proved that he was not the killer. Brown's case made national headlines not only because of the DNA exoneration, but because he was able to solve the crime from behind bars.
Brown proved that the DNA recovered from Kulakowski's body matches a man named Barry Bench, who was questioned at the time of the murder but never pursued by Cayuga County authorities.
