Exonerated by DNA, Larry Peterson settles lawsuit in N.J.

A New Jersey man who was wrongfully convicted of murder, has agreed to a one million dollar settlement.  Larry Peterson spent almost 18 years in prison for the rape and murder of a young woman in 1987.  His conviction was overturned in 2005, after he was exonerated through DNA testing.Peterson’s attorney, William Buckman, said his client wants to move on with his life.”He has plans, ideas for a business and most of all he wanted to get out of the state of New Jersey which holds so many bad memories for him,” said Buckman.   “As his trial attorneys it was a difficult choice for us because we felt that the settlement could and should have been higher but Larry wanted to get this behind him and didn’t want to spend more of his time essentially re-living this harrowing experience.”In 2003, the Innocence Project successfully petitioned to have evidence in the case re-tested.  The identity of the real murderer has not been determined.