Man Dies $7.5 Million - A 48-year-old man has died of lung cancer just four months after receiving $7.5 million as compensation from the State of New York for having been wrongfully convicted for the murder of his wife in 1996.
Daniel Gristwood is reported to have died over the weekend after a short battle with cancer. It is unclear how long he had been diagnosed with the condition.
Gristwood was convicted of the murder of his wife Christina in 1996 and sentenced to up to 25 years in jail. But he was released in 2006 after the real killer confessed to the police.
Mastho Davis confessed to the murder of Christina in 2003. Davis, who killed her with a hammer, provided Syracuse Police with a convincingly detailed description of the attack and the apartment located in the Town of Clay, New York, where the crime took place. He had tried to confess for up to 2 years before the authorities sat up and heard what he had to say.
Gristwood sued the State of New York shortly after his release for his wrongful conviction. Reports indicate that the cops had relied on the erroneous testimony of a neighbor when they branded him a suspect in his wife's murder.
Gristwood, who had travelled at the time of the incident, returned home to find his wife's body. He then called the cops and was taken along for questioning. Reports indicate that Gristwood signed a fake confession, which was typed by one of his interrogators, after up to 16 hours of being interrogated.
In 2011, a judge ordered the state to pay him $5.5 million. The ruling was however appealed - during which time it accrued interest. Gristwood finally received his money, which had swollen to about $7.5 million, in Sept. last year.
Gristwood revealed that he planned to put a chunk of the $7.5 million payout in a trust fund for his kids. Gristwood worked as a repair man before his incarceration. He also planned to keep running his business.
"It was rough," he said. "Now, it's not rough. It's over, 20 years of hard life."
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