Milwaukee Man Who Spent 24 Years In Prison For Crimes He Didn't Commit To Be Awarded $1 Million

Daryl Dwayne Holloway, a Milwaukee man who spent 24 years in jail for crimes he did not commit, will reportedly be awarded nearly $1 million.

The board awarded him the most allowed amount under the law, $25,000, plus $100,000 in attorneys' fees for being wrongfully convicted. However, because the maximum payment allowed “is not adequate in this case,” the board asked the Legislature on Thursday to approve an additional payment of $975,000.

According to the board, Holloway was imprisoned during the most productive years of his life, suffered "significant and measurable economic damages," lost several relationships and has ongoing psychological and emotional trauma. He was 48 years old when he was released. The Legislature would have to pass a bill permitting the award.

Holloway was convicted in two home invasion sexual assault cases in 1993, he was sentenced to 120 years in prison. According to the claims board summary of his case, Holloway was convicted even without the presence of physical evidence linking him to the assaults, no DNA testing was conducted at either crime scene. In addition, phone records and credible alibi witness testimony established that he was not at the scene when the assaults happened.

After the Wisconsin Innocence Project worked on the case, through the DNA test related to the first assault, they found that he did not commit the crime, leading to his exoneration and release from prison in 2016.

The claims board stated that although the victim in the second case remains persistent that Holloway was her assailant, the evidence proved that her identification of him was mistaken. It was based on a police lineup and voice identification, which the claims board said is unreliable.

In 2016, the Milwaukee County attorney's office dropped charges related to the second assault after determining it could not meet the burden of evidence.

After his release, Holloway was then accused of burglarizing a home near 70th and Hampton in 2017, he reportedly stole a gun. He pleaded no contest to two charges and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2018. Also the same year, Holloway was arrested after he allegedly approached underage girls in Janesville and asked them to get inside his car.