Anthony Wright: twenty-five years for a confession he said was forced
Anthony Wright was imprisoned for 25 years. DNA evidence exonerated him. He alleged that his confession had been coerced. In June 2018 the City of Philadelphia settled his civil rights lawsuit for $9.85 million, without admitting liability.
A public record, not a client of this firm. Everything on this page comes from the court file, the government announcement or the reporting cited at the end. Usher Law Group did not represent anyone in this matter, we publish no results of our own, and nothing here predicts the outcome of any other case.
Anthony Wright went to prison for a crime that DNA evidence later showed he did not commit. He was there for 25 years. His lawsuit said that the confession used against him had been coerced. In June 2018 the City of Philadelphia announced a settlement of $9.85 million. The City admitted nothing.
A wrongful conviction case has two lives. The first is the fight to get out, which is criminal and can take decades. The second begins only when the conviction is gone: the civil claim against the city and the officers for how the conviction was built. Mr. Wright's second case ended in a settlement two years after his exoneration.
Pennsylvania is a hard place to be wrongly convicted, in one specific way. Most states have a statute that pays a fixed sum for each year of wrongful imprisonment, without the need to prove anyone did anything wrong. As of our last check, Pennsylvania has none. A person in Mr. Wright's position has one route to compensation, the federal civil rights lawsuit, and it requires proving misconduct.
What the law calls it
A confession obtained by coercion supports a Fifth Amendment claim once the statement is used in a criminal case, and coercive questioning can also violate substantive due process (Chavez v. Martinez, 538 U.S. 760 (2003)). Withholding material favorable evidence violates due process regardless of good faith (Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963)). A person held on fabricated evidence has a Fourth Amendment claim even after legal process begins (Manuel v. City of Joliet, 580 U.S. 357 (2017)), and a malicious prosecution claim needs only that the case ended without a conviction (Thompson v. Clark, 596 U.S. 36 (2022)).
Prosecutors are absolutely immune for what they do as advocates, even knowing use of false testimony (Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409 (1976)), but only qualified immunity covers investigative acts before probable cause (Buckley v. Fitzsimmons, 509 U.S. 259 (1993)). So the civil case is usually against the detectives and, under Monell, the city. In Pennsylvania the federal claim borrows the state's two-year limitation period (Kach v. Hose, 589 F.3d 626 (3d Cir. 2009)), and it accrues when the conviction is set aside.
What it cost
Anthony Wright
25 years imprisoned; DNA exoneration; the lawsuit alleged a coerced confession.
Source: City of Philadelphia. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
What it means for you
If a conviction has just been vacated, the civil clock has just started. In Pennsylvania it is two years; in New York three; in New Jersey two; in Florida four. The claim needs the whole criminal file, the discovery that was and was not turned over, and the interrogation record. Our wrongful conviction page explains the claims, and coerced confessions explains what Chavez requires.
If you are in New York, New Jersey or Florida, there is a second route that Pennsylvania lacks: a state compensation statute that does not require proving misconduct. New York's Court of Claims Act 8-b has a two-year filing window and no cap. Our wrongful conviction compensation page compares the four states, and fabricated evidence explains the Manuel claim that survives even after a court has become involved.
The pages this story points to
Wrongful conviction
The civil claims that begin when the conviction ends.
Read →Compensation statutes
New York, New Jersey and Florida pay by statute; Pennsylvania, as of our last check, does not.
Read →Coerced confessions
What Chavez v. Martinez requires and what a due process claim adds.
Read →Sources. City of Philadelphia, "City announces settlement in Anthony Wright lawsuit" (June 6, 2018); Chavez v. Martinez, 538 U.S. 760 (2003); Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963); Manuel v. City of Joliet, 580 U.S. 357 (2017); Thompson v. Clark, 596 U.S. 36 (2022); Kach v. Hose, 589 F.3d 626 (3d Cir. 2009); reporting on the absence of a Pennsylvania compensation statute as of mid-2025.
Common questions
Does Pennsylvania compensate people who were wrongly convicted?
As of our last check, Pennsylvania has no wrongful conviction compensation statute; bills have been introduced and have not passed. New York (Court of Claims Act 8-b), New Jersey and Florida each have one. In Pennsylvania a wrongly convicted person's money claim is the federal civil rights lawsuit.
Is a coerced confession by itself a Section 1983 claim?
The Fifth Amendment claim needs the statement to have been used in a criminal case (Chavez v. Martinez, 538 U.S. 760 (2003)); coercive questioning can also be a substantive due process claim. A conviction built on a confession that was forced, and on evidence that was withheld or fabricated, is usually pleaded as several claims at once.
Tell us what happened.
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