RALEIGH
The State Bureau of Investigation has agreed to give almost $4 million to a former North Carolina death-row inmate who sued after he spent nine years behind bars before being acquitted at a new trial.
Documents made public Thursday show that the SBI agreed to the $3.9 million settlement with Alan Gell, 35, who was sentenced in the 1995 killing of Allen Ray Jenkins of Aulander, a retired truck driver.
Gell, who spent four years on death row, said that the settlement amount is a concession of both his innocence and SBI wrongdoing. He was in jail on a car theft charge when Jenkins was killed.
"I see it as an admission of guilt" from the SBI, Gell said in a recent interview.
The settlement was signed in April; the amount was unsealed in federal court Thursday. The state also spent $731,062 to defend the lawsuit.
The settlement was made on behalf of SBI special agent Dwight Ransome, who was the lead investigator in the case.
SBI Director Robin Pendergraft says that Ransome now works in an administrative job and won't conduct other investigations, although he continues to make an annual salary of $72,849. "It was in the best interest of the SBI for him to be transferred," Pendergraft said.
Ransome declined to be interviewed.
Two drug-abusing 15-year-old girls pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and testified against Gell; no one else has been prosecuted.
According to a case summary by the Ransome's attorney, the SBI agent decided early in the investigation that Gell was guilty, despite having statements from 17 independent witnesses who saw Jenkins alive after Gell was jailed on unrelated charges.
He didn't inform the prosecutor of those statements or of other evidence favorable to Gell.
Gell is now serving a five-year prison sentence for indecent liberties for having sex with a 15-year-old girl after he was freed. Gell's lawyer used part of the settlement to set up a trust that has been supporting the young woman and their son.
The town of Aulander also paid Gell $93,750 to settle the case in 2007. The SBI paid $500,000 to Gell, while two insurance companies paid $3.4 million.
Once Gell is released from prison, he will receive $7,857 each month for the rest of his life.
David Ray, the son of Allen Ray Jenkins, sat through both trials and is convinced of Gell's innocence.
"I hope the SBI will discipline Dwight Ransome," Ray said. "Why does he still have a job?"
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement