Court Declares Ohio Man Was Wrongfully Imprisoned For 20 Years

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — An attorney says a court's official declaration this week that an Ohio man was wrongfully imprisoned for two decades clears the way for him to move forward with a lawsuit seeking millions of dollars in compensation.

A lawyer for Roger Dean Gillispie, of Fairborn, said a Montgomery County judge's declaration of his wrongful imprisonment allows them to proceed with a lawsuit against the state in the Ohio Court of Claims.

But Gillispie said money "doesn't fix the lost time" or the "mental anguish" he has experienced.

Gillispie was convicted of multiple rapes but maintained he is innocent. He argued there were police reports that somehow went missing that contained information that would have helped eliminate him as a suspect.

He was freed after a court vacated his convictions in 2011. He has since become an advocate with the Ohio Innocence Project.

Gillispie was read his rights Thursday as a wrongfully imprisoned person by a judge who told him the declaration hopefully marked "the next and final chapter of this nightmare that has been your life for the past 30 years."

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)