CITY FIGHTS COMPENSATION FOR 19 YEARS WRONGFUL IMPRISONMENT

A $9?million court judgment has made Larry Mayes afraid to leave his apartment, even though he has yet to see a cent of the compensation for the 19 years he spent in prison on a wrongful conviction for rape. Mayes was released from prison five years ago after DNA tests proved he did not commit the 1981 rape. Mayes later sued the city of Hammond and a police detective, originally seeking $19?million, and two weeks ago, jury awarded him $9?million.

The city is appealing the verdict. In the meantime, the Mayes, 57, is still living in a Gary apartment with a friend and fellow former inmate. He has no car, and the lack of transportation cost him his job washing dishes at a restaurant. Last week, he had to change his telephone number. “People had been calling me that I haven’t heard from in years,” Mayes told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville. “If I go out … there’s people that think I’ve got a million dollars. “I do worry that I might not make it to see anything from the settlement,” said Mayes, who suffered a heart attack while behind bars at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

For now, the city will continue to maintain Mayes’ guilt on appeal. Federal Magistrate Paul Cherry blocked city attorneys from bringing up Mayes’ previous rape and felony convictions and that he was implicated but never charged in other crimes. The DNA evidence, and the gag order on Mayes’ convictions, will figure as key issues in the city’s appeal, Mayor Tom McDermott said. The city has far too much at stake to back down, McDermott said. “I am not going to just write him a check,” he said. “We will continue to fight this case. “This is a money issue,” the mayor said. “When all this happened, I was 10 years old. This is not about defending the integrity of the Police Department 20 years before I was mayor. I think $9?million is an unreasonable number, and we will fight that verdict tooth and nail.”

A co-defendant, James Hill Jr., also was convicted in the rape and served 17 years in prison. Two years ago, he petitioned to have his conviction overturned as well, and if that happens, the city could face another lawsuit, Hill’s attorney, Mitch Peters said.

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WHAT A LAUGH: COP "WOULDN'T FABRICATE EVIDENCE"

The defense attorney in a wrongful conviction lawsuit said in federal court Friday that former Riverside County sheriff's Detective Dan Miller had no reason to jeopardize his career by fabricating and suppressing evidence in a 1986 rape and robbery investigation. During closing statements, attorney Arthur Cunningham focused much of his remarks on the allegation that Miller fabricated a report from an eyewitness. It claimed the eyewitness saw the plaintiff, Herman Atkins, in Riverside County around the time of the attack.

Atkins, 40, served 10 years in prison for the rape and robbery of a Lake Elsinore shoe-store clerk before being cleared by DNA evidence that was not available at the time of the investigation.

The man listed in the report, Perris resident Eric Keith Ingram, testified earlier in the lawsuit trial that he had never identified Atkins or spoken with Miller. Cunningham questioned Ingram's credibility, saying he has a history of run-ins with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. Ingram also testified that he recalled meeting with a deputy named Dan Taylor, although no one by that name worked at the Lake Elsinore station, Cunningham said. "The question is which of these two people do you believe," he said. "(Ingram), who despises the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, or Miller, who has a 30-year career in law enforcement?"

The jury deliberated for three hours Friday afternoon but did not reach a verdict. Deliberations are scheduled to resume Monday morning. Atkins is seeking $10 million in damages for the decade he spent in prison for the Lake Elsinore crime. Attorney Peter Neufeld, who is representing Atkins, said that Miller used improper photo-identification procedures, falsified reports and withheld information that would have helped Atkins' defense.

The rape victim first identified Atkins after seeing a photograph of him on a wanted poster that was hanging in the briefing room in the Sheriff's Department office. At the time of the attack, Atkins was wanted in connection with an assault case in Los Angeles.

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