“COLUMBUS —
The state of Ohio will pay $1.2 million to M. Jenny Wilcox and Robert Aldridge, former Huber Heights residents who were wrongfully convicted in 1985 of 23 child molestation charges and told it’d be 60 years before they’d be eligible for parole.
“Wilcox, whose last name is now Reach, will receive $726,315, while Aldridge will be paid $527,255, according to a settlement approved Monday by the Ohio Court of Claims. The state will pay another $646,430 to Cooper & Elliott, the law firm that represented the two.
“Wilcox and Aldridge appealed their convictions and had them overturned in March 1996 — after spending 11 years in prison. The highly sensational case fell apart after it was determined that key information was withheld at trial, testimony was coerced and the state was aware of the possibility that its child witnesses were committing perjury. Three witnesses later recanted as adults.”
Read the article in the Dayton Daily News.
Gross police and prosecutorial misconduct contributed to their wrongful conviction.
Here is a summary of the case from the Dayton Daily News and the entry in The National Registry of Exonerations.
Many allies of the National Center for Reason and Justice made significant contributions to fighting this injustice, including Private Investigator Martin Yant, Dr, Richard Ofsche, Dr. Melvin Guyer, and NCRJ Advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus.
Congratulations to them all, but especially to Jenny Reach and Richard Aldridge!
