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Kwame Ajamu grabs his brother, Wiley Bridgeman, moments after Bridgeman was released from prison in November 2014. The state has agreed to pay the brothers more than $4 million for being wrongfully incarcerated.

(Plain Dealer file photo)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Two brothers who spent decades in prison for a 1975 fatal shooting they did not commit will receive an additional $4.38 million from the state for being wrongfully incarcerated.

Under the settlement approved Monday by a judge, Wiley Bridgeman will receive about $2.4 million for the 37 years he spent in prison. His brother Kwame Ajamu will receive about $2 million for the 25 years he was jailed.

Both men received a combined $1.6 million from the state in April. Terry Gilbert, their attorney, said the remaining amount constitutes the maximum amount the state can give for a wrongful incarceration claim, plus money for lost income and attorney's fees.

"They deserve whatever compensation and comfort they can get," Gilbert said.

A jury in August 1975 found Bridgeman, Ajamu and Ricky Jackson guilty of murdering Harold Franks outside a convenience store on the city's East Side. They were also convicted of trying to kill store owner Anna Robinson. A judge sentenced them to death, though that was later reduced to life.

Nearly 40 years later, a witness who was 12 years old at the time recanted his testimony and Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge David Matia cleared them of the charges. Bridgeman, 61, and Jackson, 59, were released in November 2014. Ajamu, 58, has been out of prison on parole since 2003.

Jackson, Bridgeman and Ajamu were freed with the help of the Ohio Innocence Project.

The trio has been visible since their exoneration, with speaking engagements and interviews about their case and time in prison.

All three have also filed federal lawsuits against the city and the detectives who put them behind bars, saying they lost most of their lives to incarceration.

Gilbert said the state's award has no bearing on the federal lawsuit. He said Bridgeman and Ajamu's case is progressing with depositions and discovery.

The brothers, along with Ajamu's wife, live in a house in Richfield.

The claims court in March awarded Jackson more than $1 million. Records show that the state has reached a settlement to award him more money, but it has not been finalized.