Michael O'Brien

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Charge:	Murder and Robbery
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	11
Year Crime:	1987
Year Convicted:	1988
Year Cleared:	1998
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	United Kingdom
County or Region of Crime:	Wales
City of Crime:	Cardiff
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Michael O'Brien was codefendant of Ellis Sherwood & Darren Hall. The three men were known as the 'Cardiff Newsagent Three,' wrongly convicted of robbing and murdering newsagent Phillip Saunders in Cardiff in October 1987. Misconduct by the police was used to secure an alleged but unsubstantiated confession by Hall that was used by the prosecution to secure the men's convictions. The Criminal Case Review Commission referred the convictions of Sherwood, O'Brien and Hall to the Court of Appeal on October 29, 1998. The Court of Appeals for England and Wales quashed all three co-defendant's convictions on December 17, 1999. In a remarkable twist, the British government billed Mr. O'Brien £37,000 pounds for the expense of housing him during his 11 years of wrongful imprisonment, room and lodging expense. On July 29, 2004, the British High Court (Court of Appeals) upheld the deduction from the £650,000 O'Brien was awarded as compensation for being wrongly imprisoned for nearly 11 years. In October 2006, O'Brien settled a lawsuit for £300,000 ($557,100), that he had filed after his release against the South Wales Police for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. (As of 10-12-2006, the exchange rate between English Pounds and U.S. Dollars was 1 GBP = 1.85702 USD.). O'Brien's co-defendant Ellis Sherwood settled the same lawsuit for £200,000. '"The Death of Justice," O''Brien's book about his case, was published in September 2008."
Conviction Caused By:	"An alleged but unsubstantiated confession by Darren Hall that was used to implicate his two co-defendants in the crime, police misconduct and unreliable of evidence."
Innocence Proved By:	"The Court of Appeals for England and Wales quashed all three co-defendant's convictions on December 17, 1999."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"£650,000 and £300,000 (October 2004)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	26
Age When Released:	37
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	Innocent UK website
Information Location 1:	http://www.innocent.org.uk/cases/
Information Source 2:	"The Criminal Case Review Commission (UK), Annual Report 1999-2000, p 11"
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"The Wrongly Imprisoned Are Still Paying For Crimes They Didn't Commit, Comment (Editorial Staff), The Observer, London UK, July 31, 2004"
Information Location 3:	"http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1273713,00.html"
Information Source 4:	"Police pay out nearly £1m to newsagent three, By Anna Hammond, South Wales Echo, October 12, 2006"
Information Location 4:	http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_headline=police-pay-out-nearly--pound-1m-to-newsagent-three&method=full&objectid=17919607&siteid=50082-name_page.html
Information Source 5:	"Cardiff three get £500,000 but no apology from police, By Vikram Dodd, Guardian Unlimited, October 12, 2006"
Information Location 5:	"http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1920149,00.html"
Book About Case:	""The Death of Justice," by Michael O'Brien (Y Lolfa, 2008)"
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Michael O'Brien

Charge:

Murder and Robbery

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

11

Year Crime:

1987

Year Convicted:

1988

Year Cleared:

1998

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

United Kingdom

County or Region of Crime:

Wales

City of Crime:

Cardiff

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"An alleged but unsubstantiated confession by Darren Hall that was used to implicate his two co-defendants in the crime, police misconduct and unreliable of evidence."

Innocence Proved By:

"The Court of Appeals for England and Wales quashed all three co-defendant's convictions on December 17, 1999."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"£650,000 and £300,000 (October 2004)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

26

Age When Released:

37

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

Innocent UK website

Information Location 1:

http://www.innocent.org.uk/cases/

Information Source 2:

"The Criminal Case Review Commission (UK), Annual Report 1999-2000, p 11"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"The Wrongly Imprisoned Are Still Paying For Crimes They Didn't Commit, Comment (Editorial Staff), The Observer, London UK, July 31, 2004"

Information Location 3:

"http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1273713,00.html"

Information Source 4:

"Police pay out nearly £1m to newsagent three, By Anna Hammond, South Wales Echo, October 12, 2006"

Information Location 4:

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_headline=police-pay-out-nearly--pound-1m-to-newsagent-three&method=full&objectid=17919607&siteid=50082-name_page.html

Information Source 5:

"Cardiff three get £500,000 but no apology from police, By Vikram Dodd, Guardian Unlimited, October 12, 2006"

Information Location 5:

"http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1920149,00.html"

Book About Case:

""The Death of Justice," by Michael O'Brien (Y Lolfa, 2008)"

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

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