Kentucky Man Wins $24 Million After Jury Finds Wrongful Conviction in 1992 Stabbing

A Kentucky man who spent more than two decades in prison for a murder he claims rested on fabricated evidence won more than $24 million after a jury found he had been wrongfully convicted in a case prosecutors once labeled a satanic killing.

Jeffrey Clark was 21 when he and his friend Keith Hardin were convicted in the 1992 stabbing death of 19-year-old Rhonda Sue Warford. Her body turned up in a field in Meade County days after she vanished from her Louisville home.

Prosecutors at trial tied the killing to a ritualistic motive, citing witness testimony and forensic evidence that Clark later contested as false or misleading in court filings.

Clark served more than 22 years before new DNA testing undercut key prosecution evidence. His conviction was vacated in 2016, and charges were dropped in 2018.

"I finally feel like I am able to wake up from a 34-year nightmare," Clark said after the verdict.

In a civil lawsuit, Clark charged investigators with misconduct to win his conviction. He accused them of fabricating statements, pressuring witnesses and hiding evidence that backed his innocence.

The complaint said detectives pinned ritual statements on Hardin with no independent backing.

Authorities also leaned on a jailhouse informant who got benefits for cooperating, the suit alleged, without revealing details that hurt his credibility.

An ex-girlfriend testified that Clark took part in satanic practices, but her words clashed with prior accounts, according to the lawsuit.

Investigators overlooked another potential suspect who had confessed to the killing, the complaint stated.

The Innocence Project took up the case and noted DNA advances that discredited core forensic evidence. Tests showed trial hair linked to Hardin actually came from neither him, Clark nor Warford. Blood on a handkerchief, which prosecutors connected to ritual activity, matched Hardin and fit his trial account.

The group also flagged a jailhouse informant's bid to line up false testimony and police inaction on another suspect.

Clark's lawyers pointed to the lead detective, later convicted of perjury and evidence tampering in an unrelated case, which cast doubt on the probe.

The lawsuit claimed investigators shifted Warford's death timeline to match their theory. They first thought it happened days after her disappearance, when Clark and Hardin had alibis, but later pinned it earlier to poke holes in those alibis.

The jury sided with Clark and awarded $24.35 million in compensatory damages plus punitive damages.

Meade County officials said the verdict is under review. "A verdict was rendered … and it is under evaluation as to our next course of action," the county stated, with no further comment pending legal review.

Warford's killing remains unsolved despite Clark's exoneration and award. No one has been convicted. Fox News Digital contacted the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office for comment.