LA to Pay $24M in Wrongful Conviction Settlements

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it takes longer to get to the punch line in life. Two men falsely imprisoned for decades will be getting cash from LA: $24.3 million between them, reports ABC News. And one of the men is named Kash Register. No kidding.

Kash Delano Register and Bruce Lisker this week settled wrongful conviction lawsuits with the Los Angeles City Council. Each spent more than 25 years in prison as murderers, convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Convicting Kash Register

In 1979 Register was convicted of murder. He was 18 years old. His conviction was overturned in 2013 based on evidence that testimony in his favor was withheld from prosecution proceedings. There was also no physical evidence linking him to the murder.

Having spent his entire adult life behind bars, 34.5 years, Kash Delano Register is now a free man with $16.7 million coming to him. Will prison have taught him the wisdom he needs now?

Bruce Lisker's Lock-Up

In 1983, when Bruce Lisker was 17 years old, his mother was murdered. In 1985, he was convicted and imprisoned for the crime, a stabbing. After 26 years in prison his conviction was overturned when a judge found that the prosecution had presented false evidence to convict him more than a quarter century before.

The city of LA will pay him $7.6 million dollars for the time served. It is impossible to avoid the question -- can any amount of money be worth it?

Accused or Falsely Convicted?

If you or someone you know is accused of a crime -- or is serving time on a false conviction -- talk to a criminal defense attorney. Although it is difficult, appellate attorneys get convictions reversed, there are post-conviction proceedings as this story shows, and trial attorneys do routinely thwart convictions. Consult with counsel.

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