• Facebook
  • Google Plus
  • Instagram
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
Header image

MyNewsLA.comLogo

Breaking news for greater Los Angeles and Orange County

Menu

Skip to content
  • Crime
  • Government
  • Business
  • Education
  • Hollywood
  • Life
  • OC
  • Riverside
  • Weather
  • Meet The Giltinis: LA's New Rugby Team to Open Play at Coliseum March 20
  • Private Schools in L.A. Sought Vaccines Amid Shortage
  • Man Fatally Wounded During Drive-By Shooting in Wilmington
  • OC COVID-19 Hospitalizations Continue to Creep Down; 281 New Cases Reported
  • Meet The Giltinis: LA's New Rugby Team to Open Play at Coliseum March 20

Home » Crime » This Article

He spent 27 years in prison for murder he didn’t do: LA OK’s $15 million

Posted by Toni McAllister on November 21, 2017 in Crime | Leave a response
Share this article:
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

lady justice blindfolded holding scales of justice

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $15 million payout — the largest single-plaintiff settlement in at least a decade — for a man who was imprisoned for 27 years for a 1984 murder he said he didn’t commit.

Frank O’Connell was convicted in 1985 of gunning down 27-year-old Jay French in the parking lot of the victim’s South Pasadena apartment complex on Jan. 5, 1984. French and his ex-wife had been fighting a long battle for custody of their son and friends told detectives that the ex-wife had talked about killing French to gain custody.

A neighbor in the complex picked out O’Connell from police photos and said the dying man identified his killer as the “guy in the yellow Pinto,” according to a summary of the case provided by county lawyers.

Another man, who lived across the street from French’s ex-wife, said he had jump-started O’Connell’s yellow Pinto on multiple occasions and that he had seen O’Connell kissing the ex-wife in her front yard while her new husband was at work.

Detectives ultimately discovered that O’Connell had an affair with the ex-wife and moved in with her during the summer before the shooting.

O’Connell opted for trial by a judge without a jury and was convicted in April 1985 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Investigators for Centurion Ministries Inc., a nonprofit group that investigates potential cases of factual innocence, found exculpatory evidence not disclosed by prosecutors at trial. That evidence included a prior alleged murder attempt on French by another boyfriend of his ex-wife shortly after the court first awarded French custody.

The witness who picked O’Connell out of a “six-pack” of photos also later recanted and said he had barely seen the shooter and felt pressured to make an identification.

Like this story? Don’t miss any breaking news from MyNewsLA.com. Sign up here for your free newsletter.

 

In March 2012, a court granted O’Connell’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. When prosecutors declined to retry the case, O’Connell was released from prison.

Roughly a year later, O’Connell, now 59, and his son Nicholas filed suit against Los Angeles County, alleging civil rights violations.

“We’re here today to have a little closure, a sense of closure, from what happened to me 33 years ago,” O’Connell told reporters outside the Pasadena Courthouse Tuesday, where he was originally convicted. “Thirty-three years and 10 months ago, I walked into this courtroom an innocent man. And I had my life taken away. Not only was my life taken away, but my family’s life was altered in a way that can never be repaired.”

Nicholas O’Connell said if the sheriff’s department “had put as much resource, time and energy and money into actually investigating this murder as they did fighting my father’s and my civil suit, there’s a really good chance there would actually be a murderer who was convicted and there wouldn’t be questions surrounding this original murder.”

The county spent nearly $1.4 million in legal fees and costs on the case before lawyers recommended settlement, citing the risks and uncertainties of litigation.

The settlement is the largest between the county and a single individual in at least the last decade, according to a county spokesman, and substantial enough that it is expected to be paid out over a period of two years.

–City News Service

He spent 27 years in prison for murder he didn’t do: LA OK’s $15 million was last modified: November 22nd, 2017 by Toni McAllister

>> Want to read more stories like this? Get our Free Daily Newsletters Here!

Follow us:
Facebooktwitterrss
Posted in Crime | Tagged Frank O'Connell, Jay French, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, murder, payout, Wrongful Conviction

Advertisement

Get The Latest News by Email!

Sign up here for our free newsletters. We’ll send you the latest headlines every morning and every weekday afternoon.

 
FORECAST FOR LOS ANGELES
73°
Sunny
Feels like: 73°F
Wind: 6mph WNW
Humidity: 25%
Pressure: 29.89"Hg
UV index: 5
SunMonTue
72/46°F
73/46°F
70/46°F
Weather forecast Los Angeles, California ▸

Most Popular Today

  • 24-Year-Old Woman Killed In Freeway Crash In Tustin Identified By Coroner 5,000 views
  • Ex-Teacher, Ex-Coach Accused of Illicit Sexual Contact with Riverside Girls 5,000 views
  • Homeless Woman Raped, Then Found Dead On Pomona Street: Homeless Suspect Says ‘Not Guilty’ 3,800 views
  • Hunt For Killer In Bloody Anaheim Hotel Slashing 2,200 views
  • Daddy Molests 18-Month-Old Son, Films It All With Girlfriend’s Help In Desert Hot Springs? Pair Pleads ‘Not Guilty’ 2,000 views

©2021 CalNews Inc.

Menu

  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service