An aspiring actor who spent eight years in prison after police officers framed him for murder received $13.1 million from San Francisco on Tuesday. The city’s Board of Supervisors voted to approve the settlement for Jamal Trulove four years after he was acquitted in a 2015 retrial.
“And trust me I’m not done with them by a long shot!! After what these cowards of the law did to me, I will [let] my freedom ring through every platform I get to show what injustice really looks like,” a profile appearing to be Trulove reacted on Twitter.
Trulove was arrested in 2007 for the murder of his neighbour, Seu Kuka, who was shot in a public housing project in San Francisco. The aspiring actor and hip-hop singer was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.
He spent about eight years in maximum security prisons in Southern California, hundreds of miles away from his family, according to Alex Reisman, one of his lawyers.
“He endured a lot,” he told the Associated Press.
In 2014, a California appeals court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial. Trulove was acquitted the following year. In 2016, Trulove sued. The following year, a jury in Oakland found that two police officers on the case – Maureen D’Amico and Michael Johnson – deliberately fabricated evidence and failed to disclose exculpatory material, according to the NPR.
Trulove’s attorneys added that police manipulated a witness into misidentifying Trulove as the shooter. SF Gate reports the jury found that detectives showed an eyewitness a single photo of Trulove rather than the usual practice of presenting photos of different people and asking the witness to identify the perpetrator.
Other evidence showed that the officers were aware of another possible suspect who was never investigated
The police officers named in the lawsuit have retired, and no officers were disciplined for their actions in the case, Reisman told the AP
Trulove had begun pursuing a career in acting and hip-hop when he was arrested. He appeared in the reality TV show I Love New York 2.
He continues to follow his dreams as he will appear in June’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco. The movie recently had a screening at the Sundance Film Festival.
Trulove, earlier this month, disclosed on Instagram that he has been struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over what he had to endure.
“It’s just hitting me 4 years later on what happened to me…
“No amount of money could ever reverse the time I missed with my kids and the [e]ffect that it’s had on [their] upbringing and our relationship.”
