$8m payout as conviction overturned
The city of Long Beach, California, has agreed to pay an eight million US dollar settlement to a man who served 24 years in prison before his murder conviction was overturned.
Thomas Goldstein was convicted of a 1979 murder on the strength of a prison informant's testimony that Goldstein confessed to the crime.
Two US federal judges and a federal appeals panel eventually ruled Goldstein was wrongly convicted and he was freed in 2004.
Long Beach Deputy Attorney Monte Machit said despite the settlement, city officials deny that Goldstein was wrongfully arrested or that his constitutional rights were violated.