Kenneth Ireland, wrongfully convicted in 1986 Wallingford murder, wins $6M from state Ireland served 21 years for murder, rape he did not commit

Kenneth Ireland Kenneth Ireland Photo: Christine Stuart — CTNewsjunkie Photo: Christine Stuart — CTNewsjunkie Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Kenneth Ireland, wrongfully convicted in 1986 Wallingford murder, wins $6M from state 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The state has agreed to award Kenneth Ireland $6 million for being wrongfully incarcerated for 21 years for a Wallingford murder and rape he did not commit.

The Office of the Claims Commissioner issued the ruling of immediate payment to Ireland Thursday. This is the first award for a wrongful incarceration since the law was adopted in 2008.

Ireland was imprisoned from age 18 until he was 39. The hearing on the compensation was heard on July 14, 2014.

The award breaks down as follows: $2.5 million for loss of liberty and enjoyment of life; $1.5 million for loss of earnings and earning capacity; $300,000 for loss of reputation; $1.5 million for physical and mental injuries; and $200,000 for costs and expenses.

The claims commissioner, J. Paul Vance Jr., recommends that the award not be subject to state taxes.

“Mr. Ireland was wrongfully convicted and was labeled a murder and sex offender and was forced to spend a long portion of his life in maximum security prisons, where he experienced twenty one years of violence, sleepless nights and the constant fear and hopelessness that he would die in prison as an innocent man,” according to Vance. “While this decision attempts to compensate Mr. Ireland for the time that he was wrongfully prisoned, no words or dollar amount will suffice to give him back the time that he lost and the misery that he endured,” he wrote.

“As the person who is tasked by the State of Connecticut with the assessment of damages for his claim, I offer my sincerest apologies to Mr. Ireland for the burden that he was forced to suffer and I wish him the best of luck,” Vance wrote.

In March of 2012, Kevin Benefield was convicted of the murder and rape of Barbara Pelkey.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy also issued a statement on the award.

“Kenneth Ireland is a man of extraordinary character who endured the unimaginable pain of two decades of wrongful incarceration, and yet is not only without bitterness, but is incredibly thoughtful, insightful and committed to public safety and service. Nothing could ever replace the two decades of life as a free man that were wrongfully taken away from him, separated from his family and friends,” Malloy said.

“Modern DNA technologies are ensuring that the violent criminals who have actually committed the crimes are convicted and remain behind bars. I applaud the work of the Innocence Project for their efforts in ensuring that our criminal justice system remains fair and just,” the governor said.

DNA evidence helped prosecutors convict Benefield of the crime. Ireland last year was appointed to the state parole board.

Ireland’s conviction had been affirmed by the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1991 and in 1999 his attempt to use DNA testing was unsuccessful because of inconclusive testing results.

In 2007, the Connecticut Innocence Project began an investigation of the case. Subsequent DNA testing was conclusive and ruled out Ireland as the perpetrator. Charges against him were dismissed in August 2009 and he was released from prison.

Pelkey was 30 and the mother of four children when she was killed in the Wallingford industrial park where she worked.

Ireland was represented in his compensation hearing on a pro bono basis by attorneys William Bloss and Sean K. McElligott, as well as attorneys for the Connecticut Innocence Project. The award reimburses the project for its costs. Bloss had sought $8 million for his client.

Timothy Fisher, now the dean of the University of Connecticut School of Law and the founder of the Connecticut Innocence Fund, has followed Ireland’s case since it was taken up by the Connecticut Innocence Project, which had no home when it was first established in 2005.

Fisher offered it a suite where he was a partner at McCarter and English in Hartford and he and other attorneys there helped with brief writing and litigation.

He said he helped assemble a support team that assisted with employment and the basics, such as clothing and a used car for Ireland.

“It was never easy these last five years ... but he was always a worker finding a way to get ahead,” Fisher said.

Fisher heads the Connecticut Innocence Fund, which was set up by the Connecticut Bar Foundation and Community Partners in Action where it raised $50,000 from private sources to help prisoners who have been exonerated until they receive their compensation awards.

“Ken is the example that inspired us to do this,” Fisher said. He said Ireland helped raise money for the fund through speaking engagements, but felt it would be a conflict to take any for himself. “That is the kind of person he is,” Fisher said.

Fisher said when he first got to know Ireland, he could see “he was a good person.” He said in the last few years Ireland has grown into “somebody who just wants to give back,” although he is the last person who owes anybody anything. “His value to the community is amazing,” Fisher said.

In a 2012 interview in the New Haven Register, Ireland reflected on his time in prison and his life as a free man since 2009.

“I grew up in the most horrible place you can imagine. Can you think of a time more vital than that? We’re only given so much time on this planet,” Ireland said of incarceration from age 18 to age 39.

Ireland said that when he was in prison: “I was probably the most angry, bitter person you could imagine. But as soon as the cuffs came off and I walked out a free man, it was like a switch was flipped.

“I don’t have room in my life for the negativity of being angry. ... I decided to concentrate on the future, not dwell on the past,” he told the Register.

Vance notes that Ireland was always incarcerated in the toughest prisons and with the most dangerous inmates, including five years at the then maximum security Connecticut Correctional Institution-Somers, where he was forced “to endure gang violence and administrative segregation.” In 2000, he was transferred to Wallens Ridge State Prison in Virginia, “a maximum security prison notorious for its poor treatment of inmates.”

At MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, Ireland spent 21 hours a day in his cell, according to the report. Because of the nature of his conviction, he was the “target of inmate violence,” Vance wrote.

Ireland, in his compensation hearing, testified that he suffered physical injuries, including losing part of a finger, trauma to his face and nose, hearing loss, a shoulder injury and respiratory problems. He suffered from extreme depression and he continues to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“A powerful line was spoken at the formal (compensation) hearing when counsel for Mr. Ireland stated, ‘Imagine stepping out of life at age 18 years old and stepping back in twenty one years later.’ This was the reality that Mr. Ireland endured and he has persevered,” Vance wrote.

Ireland, since he left prison, has worked in the Bloomfield public schools with troubled students and in an accounting firm, among other jobs. The position on the parole board is a full-time job, which he is now serving on an interim basis until he is confirmed by the General Assembly.

Fisher credited Gerry Smyth, the former chief public defender, for setting up the Connecticut Innocence Project in 2005 and for attorney Karen Goodrow’s leadership there.

He said one of the reasons for the enormous success of the project was the good relationship between it, the chief state’s attorney’s office and police departments and the “great integrity and honesty” of Goodrow, who was appointed a Superior Court judge by Malloy in 2013.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the first name of Timothy Fisher, dean of the University of Connecticut School of Law and the founder of the Connecticut Innocence Fund,