Mass pays $500k to estate in wrongful conviction case

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State pays $500k to estate in wrongful conviction case

The estate of one of four men who a federal judge said were framed by the FBI for a notorious 1965 gangland murder has received $500,000 from the state for the wrongful conviction.

But the lawyer for the late Louis Greco's estate said it will return the settlement if it wins an appeal by the federal government challenging a US district court judge's award of $101.7 million to the two surviving former prisoners and the estates of two who died in prison before being exonerated.

"If we prevail in the federal case, which is years down the road, we'll reimburse the Commonwealth $500,000," John Cavicchi, who represents Greco's former wife, Roberta Werner of Boynton Beach, Fla., the executrix of his estate, said yesterday. "Roberta wanted the money now. She's elderly."

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Nothing in the 2004 state law that provides a maximum of $500,000 for erroneous convictions prevents individuals from seeking compensation even if they have been awarded damages in federal court, according to a spokeswoman for Attorney General Martha Coakley, who represents the state in compensation claims. But Coakley and Werner negotiated an agreement for the estate to return the money if it ultimately gets at least that much in the federal case.

Boston