Two men imprisoned for eight years for a murder they did not commit have settled their lawsuit against the city of Springfield and two police officers for $2 million.
Eric Proctor and Christopher Boots were released in 1994 after police determined someone else committed the 1983 execution-style killing of Raymond John Oliver, a 19-year-old convenience store clerk."This settlement represents our vindication, finally after all these years," Proctor and Boots said in a statement Thursday. "No amount of money can give us back what we lost."
Proctor, 33, a sheet rock worker in Portland, and Boots, 34, a sawmill worker in Eugene, filed a $42 million lawsuit in 1995. They contended, among other things, that investigators intimidated witnesses into false testimony and gave incorrect information on lab tests.
The trial was scheduled to start next week.
In 1994, an unnamed informant said Ricky Kuppens had killed Oliver. Police found the weapon used, matched Kuppens' fingerprint to one found on the tape and got Kuppens to admit the killing before he committed suicide.
Investigators said they had no evidence Kuppens knew Boots and Proctor, who found the body and notified police.
The city admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement. City Council President Greg Shaver said the city stands behind investigations that led to the arrest and then the eventual release of the men.