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| Man Cleared in Rape Gets $480,000, Jailed Again |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 05/02/2003 |
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A Los Angeles man who was awarded $481,000 by the state of California this week because he was wrongly imprisoned for raping a young girl, learned of the decision while in jail after being arrested for loitering near an elementary school. Leonard McSherry was one of 598 people compensated by the state of California for various claims. He and another man were cited by the office of Gov. Gray Davis on Tuesday as examples of people 'accused of crimes but exonerated' by DNA evidence. McSherry -- who has prior convictions for child molestation, kidnapping, indecent exposure and loitering near schools -- spent 13 years in prison for the rape of a 6-year-old girl before he was released in 2001 after another inmate's admission of guilt and DNA testing cleared him. McSherry will receive $481,200 -- or $100 for each day that he was incarcerated. But by the time that Davis issued the announcement, McSherry had spent nearly three weeks in jail, having been arrested on April 10 by Beverly Hills Police for 'loitering where children are present.' A Beverly Hills Police spokesman, Lt. Mitch McCann, said McSherry had been taken into custody near an elementary school and was scheduled to stand trial beginning on Monday. McSherry's attorney, Mark Overland, disputed the new charges against his client and said the arrest did not mean that he did not deserve the money. 'One has nothing to do with the other,' Overland said. 'This man spent over 13 years in prison for crime he didn't commit. But for the DNA he'd still be in prison.' He said McSherry had been arrested for driving past several schools while under surveillance by police, adding: 'If it were you or me who had done that no charges would have been filed.' Byron Tucker, a Davis spokesman, said that the governor's office was unaware of McSherry's criminal record or recent arrest when he was awarded the money, but said those facts would not have prevented him from getting the cash. 'Frankly the two issues are not related,' Tucker said. 'The only consideration for the state is that he had been wrongly incarcerated for more than a decade and the DNA evidence clearly absolved him.' He said McSherry was paid through an 'equity process' that compensates Californians 'in cases where the state may have damaged a person though no legal liability may exist.' McSherry became the target of angry protests last year when police, acting under Megan's Law, informed residents of an Irvine, California neighborhood that the convicted sex offender had moved into their midst. |
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