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Innocent Man Spends 17 Yrs. In Prison, Reaches Settlement With Greensboro

A North Carolina man who spent nearly 17 years in jail, but was released in 2012 as part of a Pardon of Innocence will receive a settlement from the City of Greensboro.

LaMonte Armstrong (center) was released from prison on Friday, June 29, 2012, after serving 17 years for murder. New technology has matched a palm print found at the crime scene to another man. 

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- A North Carolina man who spent nearly 17 years in jail, but was released in 2012 as part of a Pardon of Innocence will receive a settlement from the City of Greensboro.

LaMonte Armstrong will receive $6,420,000 as part of the settlement. In August of 1995, Armstrong was convicted of the 1988 murder of Ernestine Compton. He was released in 2012 after a new investigation found him innocent.

The Greensboro Police Department found probable cause to charge Christopher Caviness who’s now deceased with Compton’s murder. New evidence revealed that a latent print examiner matched a latent palm print found at the crime scene in 1988. The police office sent the print to the SBI who reported incorrectly that the latent print found at the scene was not a match to Caviness.

In 2013, Armstrong received a Pardon of Innocence from Governor Pat McCrory. He also received a monetary award to a state statute from the State of North Carolina.

In 2015, Armstrong filed a lawsuit against the City of Greensboro and three retired employees.

The settlement means the City of Greensboro will pay $3,153,333.33 and the other amount of $3,266,666.67 will be paid by Genesis Insurance Company. The city says the settlement is without any admission of wrongdoing or liability by the city, any of its retired employees, of Genesis Insurance Company.

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