Man Wrongfully Convicted of Homicide Receives $5 Million

Richard Raugust, wrongfully convicted in a homicide, has received a $5 million settlement in a case against Sanders County and a deputy sheriff, law firm Blackford Carls announced Wednesday.

In 1998, Raugust was wrongfully convicted of using a shotgun to shoot a friend and housemate to death and setting the scene on fire after another man falsely accused him — and a deputy sheriff withheld exculpatory evidence, according to Blackford Carls and the Montana Innocence Project.

The evidence that was withheld — either willfully or inadvertently — would have corroborated Raugust’s alibi and his testimony in court, and it would have impeached the statements of witnesses who testified against him in the murder of Joe Tash, according to court records.

Read the source article at dailymontanan.com