Judge awards $13 million to exonerated man

WASHINGTON -- A judge has awarded $13.2 million to a man who was convicted of murder in Washington and spent 28 years in prison based on forensic hair analysis that later was discredited.

D.C. Superior Court Judge John Mott awarded the money Friday to 55-year-old Santae Tribble, who was convicted in the 1978 slaying of a taxi driver, The Washington Post reported.

Trimble was exonerated in 2012 and released after DNA analysis revealed hairs found near the scene of the crime were not his.

Tribble is the third District of Columbia man who has received a multimillion-dollar judgment in his favor after being wrongly convicted based on hair analysis.

The D.C. Public Defender Service uncovered a pattern in which prosecutors exaggerated claims about the reliability of forensic hair testing.

The city government has been ordered to pay $39 million in damages over the past year.