A Johnson County District Court jury has awarded $12 million to a man who was found guilty of a sex crime he didn’t commit.
The jury heard six days of testimony and deliberated for two hours before awarding Donald Clark of Iowa City $8 million for past emotional distress and $4 million for future damages.
Clark had spent six years in prison on a 25-year sentence before a ruling in May of 2016 vacated his sentence and found he was innocent of the crime. Evidence was presented that the state public defender’s office failed to investigate the case against Clark, and substandard performance in his defense in 2009 led to his conviction.