RALEIGH, N.C. – A judge has thrown out a contract allowing lawyers for a man freed after 30 years on death row to claim a large part of his compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

Judge Terrence Boyle ruled Monday that Henry McCollum lacked competence to sign with lawyers currently representing him in a lawsuit against investigators who put him behind bars. The current lawyers are not the ones who helped free McCollum and his half brother from prison in 2014.

"Despite his desire to proceed for himself and manage his own affairs, McCollum continues to evince signs of being easily manipulated and a lack of understanding of his attorneys," the judge wrote.

A proposed settlement would have allowed the lawyers to claim $400,000 of $1 million in payments to McCollum and his half brother, Leon Brown, from the town of Red Springs and its investigators. Boyle denied that settlement in May, citing ongoing concerns about McCollum's competency. He appointed an advocate for McCollum known as a guardian ad litem.

The half brothers, imprisoned following the 1983 killing of an 11-year-old girl, were released in 2014 because of DNA evidence that pointed to another man. They were later pardoned. Both have low IQs, and their attorneys say they were scared teens berated by investigators and fed details about the crime before they signed fabricated confessions.

Boyle didn't rule on Brown's arrangement with the same attorneys, but he requested more information from Brown's separate legal guardian, who joined the civil case in 2016.

The judge indicated neither man validly entered the representation agreement they signed in 2015.

One of their lawyers in the civil case, Patrick Megaro, didn't immediately respond to an email Tuesday. The lawyers could appeal Boyle's decision.

McCollum's guardian ad litem, Raymond Tarlton, wrote in a July filing that Megaro helped steer the men into high-interest loans and other dubious financial arrangements that threaten their financial futures.

Separate from the civil lawsuit, Boyle's ruling revealed that McCollum says his lawyers claimed half of his $750,000 payout from North Carolina under a compensation program for wrongful convictions.

"The court concluded that there's no valid representation agreement, so the next step is to address potential claims to recover money that's been taken from him," Tarlton said by phone.

For his part, McCollum testified at an August hearing that he can handle his own affairs and trusts Megaro. He also said he was weary of the civil case and hoped for a quick resolution.

A Duke University law professor said it's not unusual for a judge to adjust attorney fees in lawsuits, but he's not aware of another wrongful conviction lawsuit in which a judge has had to intervene regarding the propriety of a representation agreement this way.

"This is unusual," said James Coleman, who leads Duke's clinic on wrongful convictions. "A lot of judges wouldn't do this simply because they don't want to intervene. I think Boyle was right to look at this."

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What is the world coming to when an attorney can't screw his client?

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
What is the world coming to when an attorney can't screw his client?

But theys work reals hard for the monies.

Wait. $1 million for stealing 30 years of two men's lives? And then the lawyers wanted to take almost half of that?

Goodness. Seems these men have been getting screwed their whole lives. At least this judge finally went to bat for them.

The point was not whether the attorneys were being overpaid. It is whether the clients fully understood the arrangement, evaluate whether it was in their best interests or not, etc. Low IQ, 30 years in the can, maybe they lacked the ability to care for themselves and others around them, so appointing someone to act for them, is available.

What catches my eye is wrongful conviction, 30 years in jail, etc.

And the crooked cops and prosecutors from 30 years ago... what happened to them? Fuck it, they got their conviction numbers and are happily enjoying their pensions.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
The point was not whether the attorneys were being overpaid. It is whether the clients fully understood the arrangement, evaluate whether it was in their best interests or not, etc. Low IQ, 30 years in the can, maybe they lacked the ability to care for themselves and others around them, so appointing someone to act for them, is available.

What catches my eye is wrongful conviction, 30 years in jail, etc.

Evidently this is a half full/half empty situation for you and others.According to the article the judge ruled that the lawyers took advantage of the client and is looking into the same issue with the half brother. I respect your opinion on a lot of subjects but this isnt one of them.

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
And the crooked cops and prosecutors from 30 years ago... what happened to them? Fuck it, they got their conviction numbers and are happily enjoying their pensions.

This is the most sickening part.

The paltry $1 Million for two stolen lives is a sick joke, in and of itself.

Thank goodness they were freed and pardoned in the first place, at least.

And those who did it to them... They ought to be jailed, themselves, even now.

It's sickening, the whole story.

But yes, it does seem this one judge is at least doing right by them regarding this issue.

$1 million for 30 years. I'm sure they'll be taxed after the sharks take their cut (whatever that ends up being). These men have no job skills, no socialization skills outside of prison. Their families may or may not be around anymore. What are they supposed to do?

Why aren't all the cases where a conviction took place resulting from those cops and prosecutors opened up? If they screwed these two men over, it's not unreasonable to believe there are more who have been wrongfully prosecuted.

quote:

Originally posted by triggertreat:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
The point was not whether the attorneys were being overpaid. It is whether the clients fully understood the arrangement, evaluate whether it was in their best interests or not, etc. Low IQ, 30 years in the can, maybe they lacked the ability to care for themselves and others around them, so appointing someone to act for them, is available.

What catches my eye is wrongful conviction, 30 years in jail, etc.

Evidently this is a half full/half empty situation for you and others.According to the article the judge ruled that the lawyers took advantage of the client and is looking into the same issue with the half brother. I respect your opinion on a lot of subjects but this isnt one of them.

I expressed no opinion on the question of whether the lawyers took advantage, because I don’t know enough about it. My attention was fixed on the appointment of a guardian ad litem, very unusual.

In going back, promoted by your post, I failed to see another very critical detail, 30 years not just in prison but on death row. Now it turns out they were not only not guilty, but entirely innocent.

Have the criminal prosecutors and law enforcement escaped justice through statute of limitations?

they should imprison the cops and the DA

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
they should imprison the cops and the DA

From the story:

quote:

Judge Terrence Boyle ruled Monday that Henry McCollum lacked competence to sign with lawyers currently representing him in a lawsuit against investigators who put him behind bars.

There is no information about the circumstances were that were misused, withheld, etc. to produce the guilty verdicts.