Connecticut will grant $ 5.9 million to the family of a disabled man imprisoned unfairly for a murder sentence in 1992

Connecticut will pay almost 5.9 million dollars to the family of a disabled man who was unfairly imprisoned for more than two decades before being released in 2015, when his 1992 condemnation For the murder and violation of an 88 -year -old grandmother she was revoked.

Richard Lapointe, who died at 74 in 2020, had Dandy-Walker syndrome, a rare congenital brain malformation that, according to his lawyers, was a factor in his false confession. Lapointe was never declared innocent, but his lawyers and the state attorney general’s office finally agreed to reach an agreement after years of legal battles.

The State states that the commissioner’s office set on January 2 the money that would be granted to the family, although it still needs to be approved by the Legislature. The claims commissioner’s office determines whether people may file demands against the State or receive money under the State Law of Unjust Incarceration.

The claims commissioner, Robert Shea Jr., said his office agreed that compensation is “reasonable and appropriate.”

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Lapointe’s lawyer, Paul Casteleiro, said the prize is “recognition by the state of the evil he committed when processing and imprisoning an innocent man. Unfortunately, Richard did not live enough to witness his final claim.”

“Compensation is not in any way an adequate compensation for what Richard Lapointe was made,” Casteleiro said on Friday, adding that the State destroyed the life of its client “for a crime that he did not commit.”

The Office of the Attorney General said in a statement on Friday that “he negotiated a resolution of this claim in the interest of all parties. This reflects that process.”

In 1987, the grandmother of Lapointe’s wife, Bernice Martin, was found stabbed, raped and strangled in her flame apartment in Manchester, Connecticut.

Lapointe was convicted of Martin’s murder in 1992 and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of liberation. The key evidence in the case included Lapointe’s confessions during an interrogation of almost 10 hours by the Manchester Police.

His lawyers argued that his mental disability was due to the fact that he had given false confessions and that the confession was obtained under coercion without their lawyers being present.

The State Supreme Court failed 4-2 in a 2015 decision that Lapointe was deprived of a fair trial since prosecutors did not reveal the notes of a Police officer that could have supported a alibi defense. Later that year, prosecutors said the new DNA tests did not imply Lapointe and all the positions were withdrawn.

No one else has been accused of Martin’s murder.

Lapointe was released shortly after and left Hartford’s court with a black shirt that said “I did not” while throwing his hands into the air in triumph.

“Of course I didn’t do it,” Lapointe said at that time. “That was not me. I wouldn’t do anything like that. I wouldn’t even kill my worst enemy.”

Casteleiro said that the case against Lapointe destroyed his family, that he rejected him.

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Before Martin’s death, Lapointe and his wife, who has cerebral palsy, “they were making a life together. They were doing well,” said Casteleiro. But after his arrest, his wife divorced him and lost all contact with his son, who at that time was young.

After leaving prison, Lapointe began to suffer dementia, was admitted to an elder asylum in East Hartford and died after a battle against COVID-19, according to his lawyers.

Lapointe has had the support of several defenders, including the friends of Richard Lapointe and Centurion, an organization for which Casteleiro works and helps those condemned unfairly.

The associated press contributed to this report.