A Rochester man who spent 39 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit is suing for $200 million.
Attorneys for Michael Rhynes filed a civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against a long list of defendants, including the city, the Rochester Police Department, Monroe County and the county district attorney's office.
They allege members of the RPD and the DA's office used false testimony and fabricated evidence to convict Ehynes in 1986 in a deadly shooting at a Rochester bar in 1984.
Neither the city nor the county immediately returned a request for comment.
Two men who testified in the trial admitted to lying to reduce their sentences. The witnesses had accused Rhynes of attempting to rob the bar, which led to him shooting and killing Enrico Ferrari and Robert Hurysz.
Rhynes spent about four decades behind bars before a state Supreme Court judge overturned his murder conviction in 2023.
