October 22, 2008

Boca Raton, Florida – After being incarcerated for 22 years for a crime he did not commit, former Tennessee inmate Clark McMillan was freed from prison in 2002. Two years later after a long court battle, the state of Tennessee awarded Mr. McMillan a settlement for wrongful imprisonment. With mounting medical bills and a house teetering on foreclosure McMillan turned to Imperial Structured Settlements in May 2009 to raise a lump sum from his future payments.

Imperial employees gathered on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 to listen to McMillan tell his story as heard around the United States. Clark McMillan was arrested and detained on October 30, 1979 for the October 26, 1979 rape and robbery with a deadly weapon of a sixteen year old girl. In May 1980, a jury of McMillan peers found him guilty and the judge sentenced him to 119 years in prison.

All of his appeals were denied. In 1996 Mr. McMillan contacted the Innocence Project who accepted his case a year later. Due to the age of the case and difficulties with prior counsel, students spent years tracking down his files and evidence and negotiating a protocol for DNA testing.

On May 2, 2002, Mr. McMillan was the first man ever exonerated in the state of Tennessee based on DNA testing.

The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing. To date, 244 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 17 who served time on death row.

"We are honored to have Mr. McMillan; not only as a customer of Imperial but that he would take the time to come tell us his story. Every customer has a story, every transaction has a life of its own and sometimes a case stands out and touches all of us," said Senior Vice President Deborah Benaim.

Mr. McMillan's story is one of thousands of cases where Imperial has been able to step in and offer immediate cash funds when they are needed the most.

About Imperial Structured Settlements: Imperial Structured Settlements is a specialty finance company that purchases structured settlement payment rights and certain annuities from individuals. People who settle a personal injury, wrongful death, or medical malpractice claim often receive their payments from an insurance company over a predetermined period of time. Imperial Structured Settlements is based in Boca Raton, Florida. For further information, please visit our web site at ImperialStructuredSettlements,com