What Are 40 Years in Prison Worth to Wrongly Convicted Man?
Portrait of GV Wire News Director Bill McEwen
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 7 years ago on
May 17, 2018

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SACRAMENTO — California has awarded nearly $2 million in compensation to a former inmate wrongly imprisoned for almost 40 years.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday signed a law giving 70-year-old Craig Richard Coley $140 for each day he was in prison.
Coley was wrongly convicted of killing his girlfriend, 24-year-old Rhonda Wicht of Simi Valley, and her 4-year-old son in 1978.

‘Worst Nightmare’ Lasts 13,991 Days

Brown pardoned him before Thanksgiving at the urging of Simi Valley’s police chief and Ventura County’s district attorney, who cited faulty evidence.
In addition, modern DNA tests suggested he was probably innocent.
When Brown pardoned Colely, the police chief and prosecutor said that they began reviewing the case in 2016 after a retired detective raised concerns with Coley’s guilt. DNA tests did not find Coley’s DNA but did find DNA from other people.
Coley previously said the money can’t make up for what he called the “worst nightmare” of spending 13,991 days in prison.
It’s the largest payment under California’s Erroneous Conviction Program, although there have been larger awards to crime victims through other programs.

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Portrait of GV Wire News Director Bill McEwen
Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email

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