A man who was freed after being wrongfully convicted died Monday afternoon. It was this time last year Timothy Howard stood and cheered when he heard the verdict that mirrored what he had said all along: he was innocent. Howard suffered a massive heart attack almost one year to the day of his court victory.
That was Timothy Howard's reaction when six of eight jurors decided Howard had sufficiently proved he was not involved in the robbery or guard's murder at the former Ohio National Bank. The verdict came 30 years after Howard was convicted of murdering bank guard Berne Davis during a robbery. He was 23 years old. Howard spent the next 26 years maintaining his innocence. In 2003, his conviction was overturned. Following the verdict, Howard said he was not bitter about spending so many years fighting for his innocence. He said when you tell the truth, justice will eventually come about.
"You have to be patient. I've been patient all this time and unfortunately this happened to me. But it paid off. This is justice. We got good people," Howard said.
And his patience did pay off. Just five weeks later it was announced a settlement had been reached. A settlement that turned out to be $2.5 million; the largest in Ohio history.
But last Friday, Howard, 53, suffered a massive heart attack and he was placed on life support. He died Monday afternoon.
Following last March's verdict, Howard spoke of his plans to sit back and enjoy that his hard work trying to prove his innocence finally paid off.
"It was a personal battle and I got caught up in something that I had nothing to do with. And, uh, it's 30 years later and it's just now getting straightened out. So I'm going to just take this and move forward. That's what I'm going to do," Howard said.
Howard's family and attorneys were unavailable for comment.