In 1995, Obie Anthony was 19 years old when he was convicted of murder and attempted robbery. Despite no physical evidence connecting him to the crime, prosecutors relied on testimony from an informant – a convicted killer and pimp who ran a house of prostitution near the scene of the crime, and who claimed to have seen the shooter.
In 2008, the Northern California Innocence Project, working with Loyola’s Project for the Innocent, took on his case.The court vacated Anthony’s conviction on September 30, 2011, after an 11-day evidentiary hearing. After 17 years in prison, Anthony was released on October 4, 2011, and prosecutors dismissed the charges on November 18, 2011. In August 2012, Anthony filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, which agreed to settle the claim in 2015 for $8.3 million. Anthony was also awarded compensation by the State of California in the amount of $581,600.
Obie Anthony has become an activist and has used his lawsuit funds to create Exonerated Nation.
