Man wrongly imprisoned gets $3.9 million

Metro Louisville government has agreed to pay $3.9 million to William Gregory, who was freed by DNA evidence after serving seven years in prison for a rape he didn't commit.

Bill Patteson, a spokesman for the county attorney's office, confirmed that a settlement in that amount was struck yesterday morning.

Gregory, 59, claimed in a lawsuit that he was falsely arrested by officers in the Louisville Police Department, causing him to endure years of degradation behind bars.

He was convicted in 1993 of raping one woman and attempting to rape another, then freed in 2000 after DNA tests showed that seven hairs found in a stocking mask used by the rapist couldn't have been his. He was the first Kentuckian exonerated through DNA.

The state of Kentucky in November paid him $700,000 to settle his claims against a state forensic examiner who testified against him.