Lawrence McKinney has been awarded $1million (£700,000) in compensation after being wrongly convicted of a crime, having spent a total of 31 years in jail for the crime that it turned out he didn't commit.
The 61-year-old was imprisoned in 1978 for rape and burglary, but was freed in 2009 before being formally exonerated in December, the BBC reports.
The Tennessee Board of Claims voted unanimously to compensate McKinney on Wednesday, offering him the highest amount Tennessee has ever granted.
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"We thank the governor, and we thank the board," said David Raybin, a lawyer for McKinney.
"Highest amount ever paid, but then again, no one was ever incarcerated for this long."
McKinney was arrested in Memphis back in October 1977, when a woman claimed he was one of two men to have raped her in her apartment.
After being charged with rape and first-degree burglary, the then-22-year-old McKinney was sentenced to 115 years in prison.
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It wasn't until 30 years later in 2008 when a DNA test of the victim's bedding identified three people, and not McKinney, meaning that his conviction was lifted.
After being released in 2009, McKinney says he was in prison for a grand total of 31 years, nine months, 18 days and 12 hours.
At this point, he was reportedly only awarded $75 for his lengthy stint behind bars, telling CNN: "Because I had no ID it took me three months before I was able to cash it."
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But McKinney then said he wanted to be formally declared not guilty, and sought a full exoneration - only for a parole board to vote against this in 2016, with one board member defending their decision not to exonerate him because the victim's descriptions matched McKinney's 'to a tee'.
Eventually, McKinney was exonerated in December 2017 after Tennessee governor Bill Haslam went against the board's verdict, which meant that the wrongly accused man was then able to apply for compensation - a lot of compensation, it seems.
According to the BBC, McKinney will not receive the full amount as a lump sump. He will instead receive $353,000 upfront in order to pay for both the fees of his lawyers and debts, with the rest of the amount being distributed into monthly payments of $3,350 over a minimum of 10 years.
If he passes away before receiving the full amount, the money will go to his wife or his estate.
Featured Image Credit: Fox17 News