RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)- Gov. Pat McCrory has granted a pardon of innocence to a man who served 27 years in prison for a rape that he didn’t commit.
McCrory said in a news release that he told Edward McInnis of the pardon Thursday. The pardon makes McInnis eligible to file a claim for $750,000 in compensation.
Multiple media outlets reported in August that McInnis had been released from prison after an investigation by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission. He had been sentenced in 1988 to life in prison for the rape of an 81-year-old woman in Laurinburg.
The Laurinburg Exchange reported that McInnis’ confession and guilty plea were accepted even though his version of the crime differed from that of the victim on important details.
