Two men who served 32 years in jail for a 1980 Park Slope arson and murder they didn’t commit will receive a $30.9 million settlement from the state and city.
Amaury Villalobos and William Vasquez will each get $9.7 million from the city, Comptroller Scott Stringer announced Friday. They are expected to receive another $5.75 million from the state, Vasquez’s attorney Joel Rubin told The Post.
“I’m just hoping that this money will help him somewhat pick up the pieces of his life after what the system did to him,” Rubin said. His client declined to comment.
The two men’s crusade for justice was championed by late Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson, who said the “case never should have been brought.” They have the dubious distinction of serving the longest prison terms among the wrongfully convicted in the district.
“I believe late District Attorney Ken Thompson would be pleased with our efforts to reach a settlement with Mr. Villalobos and Mr. Vasquez,” Stringer said.
The men were in their late 20s and early 30s when they were arrested for setting fire to a Park Slope building that killed mom Elizabeth Kinsey, 27, and her five kids.
Villalobos, 67, and Vasquez, 66, had recently been paroled on sentences of 25-year-to-life when their convictions were overturned in December 2015.
“I finally feel today that if I die tonight, I will be able to go to my grave in peace, knowing that justice has been served,” Vasquez, who is now blind, said at his exoneration proceeding.
The only eyewitness, building owner Hannah Quick, admitted to lying on her deathbed. Experts eventually determined that the fire was accidental.
“We have reached an agreement that recognizes the years these men spent incarcerated and allows them and their families closure, while being prudent in fulfilling my office’s fiscal responsibility to the City of New York,” Stringer said of the settlement.
A third man who was convicted, Raymon Mora, died in prison. His family is still negotiating his claim.
A spokesman from the state attorney general’s office declined to comment on the settlements.
