Vermont Business Magazine The State has resolved legal claims asserted by the Estate of John Grega under Vermont’s Innocence Protection Act arising out of his 1995 conviction for the murder of his wife, according to Attorney General Bill Sorrell. Under the terms of the settlement, the State will pay $1.55 million to resolve the Estate’s claim that DNA testing in 2012 exonerated Mr. Grega of the crime—a claim contested by the State as unsupported by the facts. Indeed, in 2013 a Vermont trial court stated, when denying Mr. Grega’s request to dismiss the murder case with prejudice, that the new “piece of scientific evidence which is not yet explained . . . does not exonerate [Mr. Grega] as plainly inconsistent with his guilt.”
After a lengthy jury trial, in August 1995, Grega was found guilty of the aggravated murder of his wife while the couple were vacationing with their two-year-old son in Dover, Vermont. The trial court sentenced Grega to life without parole, and the Vermont Supreme Court affirmed Grega’s conviction in 1998. Grega served over 17 years and was released from prison after the State’s Attorney moved to dismiss the case until additional testing on the new DNA evidence became available to permit a re-prosecution. Grega died in a car accident in 2015, eighteen months after his release.
“The State was prepared to go to trial, especially in light of the compelling evidence of guilt presented at the criminal trial in 1995 and the fact that the new test results did not conclusively establish Mr. Grega’s innocence,” said Sorrell. “But the settlement for this relatively modest amount compared to the State’s arguable exposure to over $20 million in damages under the Act was deemed to be the most prudent course. This settlement is in no way an admission of wrongdoing by the State and does not diminish the thorough and professional investigation and prosecution of this matter to a guilty verdict 20 years ago.”
The Estate had also sued several state and county officials in federal court alleging civil rights violations in connection with the prosecution and conviction of Grega. That lawsuit was voluntary dismissed by the Estate today as well.
“These claims had absolutely no basis in either fact or law and justice was served by the Estate’s dismissal of this matter with prejudice,” said Sorrell.
Vermont AG: April 22, 2016