Ex-Inmate’s Dilemma - $2.2 Million or a Lawsuit - NYTimes.com

Michael A. Green - a free man now.

I once tried a murder case three times. Two hung juries, then an acquittal. The case hinged on two eyewitness identifications: the barmaid - who said my client Edgar Jimenez "looks like the guy" who stood watch at the door with a gun as a cohort emptied the cash register and a man drinking at the bar with the victim - his cousin who was probably too drunk to realize what was going on as he seemed to defy an order to "freeze".

Sometimes I disbelieved my client's alibi and his denials - to me and to the three juries. In the end I just didn't know. But two juries came within one vote of conviction. Mistaken identification is one of the dangers of the frailty of human perception and memory. Such an error cost Michael A. Green 27 years of his life.

Ex-Inmate’s Dilemma - $2.2 Million or a Lawsuit - NYTimes.com