City Of Tulsa Settles For $8M With Wrongly Convicted Man

A legal settlement will cost Tulsa taxpayers $8 million, but an attorney on the case claims it would have been more if it had gone to trial.

Sedrick Courtney was exonerated after he had already served his time in prison -- 15 years.

He sued the Tulsa Police Department over testimony given by a lab technician who helped convict him.   

A DNA test of the evidence, much later, showed it wasn't connected to Courtney.

"Well, obviously he would have gotten much more had he gone to trial, but settlements are reasonable to allow people to go on with their lives,” attorney Barry Scheck said.

The city says property taxes on a $100,000 home would go up about $10 a year to pay the cost of the settlement.

The city currently pays about $6 million a year for court judgments. This one will be spread over the next three years.

9/23/2015 Related Story: City Of Tulsa Gears Up To Fight Million-Dollar Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit