PAT EATON-ROBB AP New Haven Register
A judge vacated the felony murder convictions in 2020, after testing found the towel was free of blood. The two men filed a federal wrongful conviction lawsuit against Lee, eight police investigators and the town of New Milford. U.S. District Court Judge Victor Bolden ruled in July that there was no evidence Lee ever conducted any blood tests on the towel, and a summary judgement was issued against him. Under the settlement, which must still be approved by the General Assembly, Birch and Henning would each receive $12.6 million, Attorney General William Tong’s office said.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut’s attorney general has agreed to a $25.2 million settlement with two men who spent decades in prison for murder, based partly on evidence presented by famed forensic scientist Henry Lee that a judge later found was fabricated.
Ralph “Ricky” Birch and Shawn Henning were convicted in the Dec. 1, 1985, slaying of Everett Carr, after Lee testified there were stains consistent with blood on a towel found in the 65-year-old victim’s home in New Milford, 55 miles (88 kilometers) southwest of Hartford.
A judge vacated the felony murder convictions in 2020, after testing found the towel was free of blood. The two men filed a federal wrongful conviction lawsuit against Lee, eight police investigators and the town of New Milford.U.S. District Court Judge Victor Bolden ruled in July that there was no evidence Lee ever conducted any blood tests on the towel, and a summary judgement was issued against him.
Under the settlement, which must still be approved by the General Assembly, Birch and Henning would each receive $12.6 million, Attorney General William Tong’s office said.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle to resolve these matters in the best interest of all parties,” the attorney general’s office and lawyers for Birch and Henning said in a statement released Tuesday night. “We look forward to presenting this settlement to the legislature and reserve further comment until that time.”
I am very familiar with this case. I know Ricky quite well. His brother was married to my sister-in-law (Tammy’s sister) and he was wrongly accused of a murder and then crooked cops and a criminally complicit medical examiner LIED UNDER OATH that the forensics proved Ricky guilty. The poor guy spent 30 plus years in prison for a crime pinned on him by a corrupt system of justice. Those involved in this should be JAILED
Bob Barney