ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The state of Missouri and city of St. Louis will pay nearly $14 million to relatives of a man wrongfully convicted of killing and raping a woman in 1982.
St. Louis Public Radio reported Tuesday that the sister and mother of George Allen settled the federal civil rights lawsuit last week. Neither the city nor the state admitted to allegations in the lawsuit, which included claims that detectives beat a confession out of Allen and withheld evidence that would have shown he was innocent.
Mary Bell was fatally stabbed in her apartment. Allen was 26 at the time. He was sentence to life in prison.
A judge threw out the conviction in 2012 based on new DNA evidence. Prosecutors decided not to retry the case.
Allen died in 2016.