'I feel vindicated': Member of 'Buffalo Five' awarded $28M by jury after wrongful conviction

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- John Walker, a member of the "Buffalo Five," was awarded $28 million on Tuesday by a jury in Rochester after being wrongfully convicted of a murder in 1976 and spending 21 years in prison.

In an interview with WIVB News 4, Walker said he feels "vindicated," spoke about having a sense of closure and his plans moving forward.

"I do feel a sense of victory," he said. "I feel like there's nothing else I have to fight no more, I don't have to prove nothing to nobody else no more. I feel vindicated in that way and it's all due to the lawyers that represented me in this here case and I really appreciate them."

Walker and Darryl Boyd, another member of the "Buffalo Five," were wrongfully convicted for the murder of William Crawford on Buffalo's East Side. Boyd, who died in February of last year, served 28 years in prison. Both were charged when they were 16 years old.

Their murder convictions were thrown out in August 2021 and both filed a $224 million lawsuit in June 2022 against the city for the wrongful conviction. The lawsuit said Buffalo police homicide detectives withheld evidence and used lies and pressure tactics to pin the murder on the five teenagers. There was also no physical or forensic evidence that linked them to the crime. In November 2024, city lawmakers approved $8.6 million to the men to settle the lawsuit.

Walker's attorney Ryanne Perio said it was an honor to represent Walker and Boyd and called the process a long road.

"It was about the evidence that John's defense journeys didn't have to make a case for him when he was charged and prosecuted in 1977," she said. "Part of our investigation was finding what evidence they really had, evidence pointing to other suspects, that John and his friends actually had an alibi at the time of the crime, and being able to weave that all together and put it in front of the jury and make the jury really understand what John's defense attorney might have done in 1977 if he had all that information."

With Walker being the last living member of the "Buffalo Five," he said it's very sad that Boyd was not able to live to see the outcome, but that God kept him alive to finish the case.

"I'm trying to find myself in this new world I live in now, being able to do things now that I wasn't able to do before," he said. "It's a new experience for me, so I hope that whatever I do that I'm able to affect the youth in a positive way."

Watch News 4's full interview with Walker from Tuesday in the video player above.