The wrongful conviction claims of Amaury Villalobos and William Vasquez against the city have been settled for $9.7 million each, announced New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer.
In 1982, the two were found guilty of arson and murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in connection to a fire in a Park Slope residential building in 1980, which killed a mother and her five children.
They had each served almost 32 years before an investigation by the Kings County District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) moved to vacate their convictions. The late Kings County District Attorney Kenneth Thompson stated that “this is a case that never should have been brought.”
Stringer said. “I believe late District Attorney Ken Thompson would be pleased with our efforts to reach a settlement with Mr. Villalobos and Mr. Vasquez. We have reached an agreement that recognizes the years these men spent incarcerated and allows them and their families closure while being prudent in fulfilling my office’s fiscal responsibility to the City of New York.”
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