Termaine Hicks after he was released from prison in 2020. Read more Jason E. Miczek / AP Images for The Innocence Project

by Chris Palmer Published Aug. 27, 2025, 5:39 p.m. ET

A federal jury on Wednesday awarded $3 million to a Philadelphia man whose rape conviction was overturned five years ago — a striking verdict in which the panel effectively endorsed Termaine Hicks’ assertion that police had framed him for the crime after mistakenly shooting him in the back while he was acting as a Good Samaritan.

Hicks has always insisted he was innocent of the sexual assault that occurred in a South Philadelphia alleyway in 2001. In the decades since, he has maintained that he heard a woman screaming that morning and approached her to try and offer help.

When officers arrived at t

See Full Page