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By Jackie Valley (contact) 
Monday, July 25, 2011 | 10:05 a.m.
Sheriff Doug Gillespie
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Metro Police's Fiscal Affairs Committee approved a $1.5 million settlement today to the man wrongly convicted of a violent robbery after a DNA mix-up.
The committee, which oversees the department's finances, approved the settlement for Dwayne Jackson after brief testimony from Sheriff Doug Gillespie.
An accidental sample switch in Metro's forensic lab incorrectly identified then-18-year-old Jackson as the suspect in a 2001 robbery in the southeast valley. He served nearly four years in prison before his release in 2006.
Gillespie, who called the settlement amount "appropriate," said the figure was determined after discussions with Jackson's attorneys.
"I feel comfortable that they as well as us ... feel that this is a fair settlement for a man we took four years of his life," Gillespie said.
The settlement will be paid from the department's self-insured fund, which generally contains about $12 million.
The error came to light in November when the California Justice Department contacted Metro to say that an offender in its system matched the DNA profile of forensic evidence collected from a blue, hooded sweatshirt the suspect wore during the robbery. A national DNA database used by law enforcement agencies identified the match.
Police said that information triggered a seven-month process of evaluating the case and re-examining DNA evidence to confirm that a mistake had occurred.
The DNA matched Jackson's cousin, Howard Grissom, who also was considered a suspect immediately after the robbery. Grissom is serving a 41-year prison sentence in California for an unrelated crime.
The forensic scientist who handled the case, Terry Cook, is on paid administrative leave while Metro conducts an internal investigation.
The DNA mix-up discovery prompted the department to begin reanalyzing at least 200 DNA cases handled by Cook.
At the committee meeting today, Gillespie said he will keep the community informed of any changes the department makes as it evaluates its forensic lab's policies and procedures.
lawyers also got a third of that as well. He probably got 1 million.
Comment removed by moderator. This was a good comment, but it -- unfortunately -- had one portion that violated our commenter agreement.
Sorry, Sheriff. That amount is not a fair amount for 4 years of this man's life where he lived for free, ate for free, etc. WAY TOO MUCH MONEY.
People take DNA as a 100% guarantee, but it's far from that.
$1.5 million is garbage money, I sure hope he doesn't have to pay taxes on it.
It's just more incompetence all around, he is not the first and definitely won't be the last.
Saw some guy who had been in prison for around 20 to 30 years when he wasn't at fault. Imagine that. Your entire life stolen from you by the country that claims to be free.
Why didn't the cousin speak up - hell, he was in prison for 41 yrs. anyway - nice guy, huh? NOT!
Wow. Is that after legal fee's? Doesn't seem like much, I'd be pissed if my life was only worth $1.5 mil (gross).
Sad.
Det_Munch are you crazy - lived for free, ate for free - the guy was in FRIGGIN PRISON!
The settlement isn't taxable and he doesn't owe the government anything for "funding" - what planet are you people on?
An INNOCENT American was forced into jailed service for 4 years. Absolutely disgraceful. If he agreed to that amount of $1.5 million, then there must have been mitigating circumstances as to why he would not reasonably get more, in good conscience.
Just my two cents worth.
First I would like to say that it was Honorable for Mr. Gillespie to step up and declare that there was a mix up of some sort that resulted in a mans life being turned upside down, And he and others worked to right the wrong that the man had endured. I and others will always respect those that can say they were wrong when they were wrong and they work to correct it.
Now that still doesn't mean he was not involved it simply means that the evidence was put in the wrong place, Remember he was still a suspect along with his cousin.
I also said in a past post that there would be no law suit and I was right, There was a settlement in lieu of. Basically a Insurance claim has been paid.
Gillespie stepped up in the guys defense because he had to. Otherwise he would have been all over his usual 'cops first before the public' attitude. It's all about the exposure and the cash! Such a sad excuse for a sheriff.
This happens way too many times! It you could be you or me at the wrong place, wrong time.
Only 16 States, have laws, that compensate for the wrongly accused. California, has a maximum payment $100, for each day of wrongly convicted imprisionment, which comes to $35,500 per year. If this law were to be in place in Nevada-the total compenstation for this man would have been $1,46000. The problem here is half of the money is going to this attorney who was clever enough to represent him fully knowing that this was the easient money he was going to pick pocket. He is getting $750,000 from the public, who will eventually bear the cost of this settlement. The maximum the Federal Govt. will pay is $5000 irrespective of the lenth of imprisonment. Nevada Legislature's priority should be to pass this law in this State and set a maximum. The law should exclude the attorney from sharing any money from the procceds. There is no place for an attorney to represent a client when the State or County is admitting their guilt or mistake.