I do not know exactly how much Nicholas Yarris got in the settlement of his lawsuit against Delaware County.

I do know this.

It wasn’t enough.

In 1981 Yarris, who was living in Southwest Philly, was in Delaware County prison on a minor charge. Ironically, he was later acquitted of those charges.

But while in the Delco lockup, Yarris, an admitted drug user, started chirping about a sensational Delco murder case.

Linda May Craig, a mother of three from Boothwyn, had been abducted from the parking lot of Tri-State Mall in Claymont, Del. She was raped and murdered. Her body was found in a snow-bound lot behind a Delco church.

Yarris, hoping to get a break on the charges against him, indicated he had knowledge about the identity of the killer. Only problem was that the guy he was fingering had an alibi. Suddenly investigators turned their attention to Yarris.
Yarris was charged and convicted of Craig’s murder.

He spent the next 22 years – fully half his life -- on death row, for a crime that DNA testing eventually proved he did not commit.

I’m trying to think if you can put a price tag on those 22 years, time that Yarris, now 46, can never get back. He spent 8,057 days behind bars.

Not for one of them did Yarris ever flinch in maintaining his innocence.

Six years after his conviction, Yarris started to seek the DNA testing that eventually set him free. It would take another 16 years before he walked out of prison. In so doing he became the first person in Pennsylvania history to be released from death row because of DNA testing.

Yarris says he was not the only innocent man on death row. He is now an avowed opponent of the death penalty.

In his lawsuit, which named a former county district attorney and several county detectives, Yarris maintained his attempts to get the DNA testing were stymied by county officials. As part of the settlement, he has dropped all claims against the Delco officials.

After the DNA tests came back, a federal judge ordered that Yarris be given a new trial. Delaware County prosecutors decided not to pursue the case.

The district attorney’s office maintains their belief that no one in their office conducted themselves improperly in the Yarris investigation. They point out, as does the county solicitor, that it was the county’s insurance carrier, not specifically the county, which agreed to the settlement and payment.

Yarris had sought $22 million, one million for each year he spent on death row. He likely received less than that, a lot less.

And certainly not enough.

For his part, Yarris says he simply wants to “pay off his debts and live quietly,” a new life he has created outside London with his wife and daughter. He wants to be able to make sure his daughter’s future is secure.

He seems like a man who has come to grips with what happened to him, the 22 years of his life that were taken away from him, and those he believes responsible.

He is a better man than I would bem should I ever be placed in that position.
But I do have a question. Someone killed Linda May Craig. There is no closure on this case for her family and loved ones.

I’d like to know who? So would Nick Yarris.

The case remains open.