I wrongly spent 17 years in prison for an armed robbery – until cops found an identical stranger with the SAME NAME
A DAD wrongly spent 17 years in prison for an armed robbery committed by his lookalike until cops tracked down his lookalike.
Richard Anthony Jones from Kansas City, Kansas, was released and handed $1.1million (£990k) in compensation after judge declared his conviction was unsound.
Jones had been jailed in 1999 for an armed robbery that took place in a Walmart the year before after an eyewitness said he was the robber.
But during a hearing into his case in 2017 the same witness could not tell Jones from a man called Ricky who looks just like him.
Jones also lived on the other side of Kansas while his lookalike lived where the robbery happened.
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It also turned out that there was no physical, DNA or fingerprint evidence.
After being released, Jones told the Kansas City Star.: “I don’t believe in luck, I believe I was blessed.”
Jones had unsuccessfully appealed his case several times.
But in 2015 he heard about a man in jail who looked just like him and even shared his first name.
After realising this could be the man who committed the crime, Jones contacted the Midwest Innocent Project, a non-profit organisation that provides legal services to the wrongly-convicted.
An attorney working on Jones’ case said: “We were floored by how much they looked alike.
“Everybody has a doppelgänger, luckily we found his.”
Jones was then released and reunited with his kids.
He said: “When it comes to my kids, it’s been a rough ride, but they are now at an age where they can understand.”
In 2018, he was then awarded a $1.1million settlement by the state of Kansas.
But after being set free from prison for just two years, Jones was charged with possession of a firearm
He faced up to ten years in prison without parole, but it is unclear whether he was jailed.