HORNOFF UPDATE

Previous post on Hornoff here

The city of Warwick has reached a settlement Scott Hornoff, the former police detective who wrongfully served six years in prison for murdering a former lover. Hornoff will be paid $600,000 and will receive a work-related disability pension, beginning July 18 of this year.

The settlement was reached yesterday afternoon. Under the terms of the federal court resolution, the city will pay $525,000 out of its legal reserve fund, and the remainder will be paid by the Rhode Island Interlocal Trust, Warwick's insurer.

Hornoff was released from prison in 2002 after Todd Barry confessed to the 1989 murder of Victoria Cushman. He later filed suit in Superior Court against the city of Warwick, seeking reinstatement to the city's police department and, in Federal Court, for an alleged civil rights violation stemming from his wrongful conviction. He asked for $11 million in damages.

"The city is pleased to be able to put this issue behind us and behind Mr. Hornoff,'' said Mayor Scott Avedisian. ``I hope that this bad chapter of city history is finally behind us, and I wish Mr. Hornoff all the best.'' Hornoff's lawyers recently approached state authorities about settling the case, but the Attorney General's Office refused, said Mike Healey, a spokesman for Attorney General Patrick Lynch. Hornoff was undergoing foot surgery today, according to the Associated Press. His wife, Tina Hornoff, declined to speak about the case.

Report here






ELKINS UPDATE

See yesterday's report

Although it's been nearly eight months since Clarence Elkins' name was cleared, the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction internal database still has him listed as a sexual predator and posts no information about his exoneration. In a highly publicized case, Elkins was freed Dec. 15, 2005, and the state paid him a $1,075,000 wrongful conviction settlement earlier this year.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction allows the public to view information and law enforcement to see more details in its offender database via the Internet. The law enforcement portion requires a password. Elkins was promptly removed from the public portion but as of this week, he was still listed as a sexual predator in information accessible to police and prosecutors. Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman Andrea Dean said in an e-mail to the Dayton Daily News, "The information about his sentence being vacated and overturned should have been placed there. We will see to it that it is rectified ASAP."

Elkins said he did not know about the posting and planned to look into it. Elkins had been serving a life sentence for the 1998 rape and murder of his mother-in-law and rape and beating of his 6-year-old niece. His wife Melinda fought for 7« years to clear her husband's name and bring her mother's real killer to justice. New DNA testing proved Elkins did not commit the crimes and pointed to another inmate who is now under investigation.

Report here


(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)