Since being arrested for a 1991 murder in Philadelphia, Mr. Dennis has maintained his alibi that he was on a bus and his innocence. But not until 2016 did a federal appeals court tell the state to start a new trial or release Mr. Dennis.
Neither happened. Instead, prosecutors offered Mr. Dennis a deal: sign a plea of no contest to third-degree murder and he could leave prison instantly. If he declined, a new trial would most likely take years.
The deal gave the city a potential out. Without an affirmative finding that he was innocent, the city would later argue, Mr. Dennis should not be able to bring a civil suit seeking payment for his years in prison.
The whole thing was they didnt want me to sue, Mr. Dennis said. Thats what it all comes down to.
Mr. Denniss deal is one of several nationally that federal judges are taking a close look at, weighing their fairness and whether they stand up under legal precedent. The deals suggest an emerging strategy in potentially costly wrongful conviction cases: Set people free, but pay them nothing.
Governments are fielding huge bills as the number of overturned convictions mounts. Since 1989, municipalities have paid $2.5 billion to exonerees, who can seek money under compensation statutes in more than 30 states or via civil lawsuits, according to research from Jeffrey S. Gutman, a law professor at George Washington University.
Some jurisdictions are having trouble paying. Michigan this year had to pass legislation to replenish its wrongful conviction claim funds after it almost ran out of money, while tiny Gage County, Neb., which has been ordered to pay $28 million to six exonerees, has considered raising property taxes and declaring bankruptcy.
In order to bring a civil rights claim, defendants must have a favorable termination of their criminal case, according to the Supreme Courts ruling in the 1994 decision Heck v. Humphrey.
In the prevailing interpretation of that ruling, favorable termination means an affirmative finding of innocence. But such findings are rare. If a conviction is vacated, the defendant is typically granted a new trial rather than declared innocent outright.
Prosecutors may then retry the case, or they may drop it either because so much time has passed that the case would be too difficult to retry, or as a de facto acknowledgment that the person probably did not commit the crime. Or, as in Mr. Denniss case, they may strike a deal requiring the defendant to forgo seeking civil damages.
Some prosecutors say these types of offers are inherently coercive when the alternative is staying in prison.
It flies in the face of our most basic concepts of an accurate and just system: Simply put, I think the whole thing is despicable, Larry Krasner, Philadelphias district attorney and a former defense lawyer, said when asked to comment on Mr. Denniss case and another similar deal arranged by his predecessor.
