Court: Police To Pay $7 Million to Man Framed for Murder, Served 26 Years

Two former police officers in a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida suburb will have to pay big for framing a teenager who ended up spending 26 years in jail for a crime in the early 1980s that he didn’t commit.

Anthony Caravella, now 46, was freed from prison in the fall of 2009 after DNA tests found that he had not raped and murdered a woman back in 1983. His conviction had been re-examined after a series of stories in the local newspaper that looked at questionable cases. 

Caravella, who has mental issues, had maintained all along that he was innocent and that he had been set up to take the fall for the crime by two police officers, William Mantesta and George Pierson. 

A federal jury in 2013 found that the two officers, who had since retired, were liable for framing Caravella. The jury found that Mantesta and Pierson had taken advantage of Caravella’s mental challenges and coerced him into confessing and then withheld evidence that would have cleared him. Caravella had originally been arrested when he didn’t show up in court over a stolen bike charge. His lawyers argue that Caravella was held for an entire week and was bullied by the two officers into copping to the rape and murder. 

A federal appeals court last Thursday ruled that both officers must pay Caravella $7 million, saying Mantesta was liable for $4 million and Pierson liable for $3 million. 

It will, however, be a bit of an uphill challenge right now to collect the money. The city of Miramar argues it is not liable and contends it doesn’t have enough insurance to cover the $7 million. Attorneys representing the city and the two former officers have not yet decided whether they will appeal the latest ruling. Caravella’s attorneys say they are “looking at all options” to collect the money.