Ex-detective wrongly convicted of murder owed job, back pay
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Jeffrey Scott Hornoff, a former police detective, was released from prison in 2002 after being cleared of a murder conviction.
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(CNN) -- A former Rhode Island police detective who spent more than six years in prison for a murder he did not commit may return to his old job with back pay, a judge has ruled.
Jeffrey Scott Hornoff can be reinstated to the Warwick Police Department and receive lost pay and benefits that may surpass $500,000.
A hearing is scheduled for January 27 to determine how much money Hornoff should receive, The Associated Press reported.
Hornoff has said he does not want to return to police duty but sought reinstatement so he could get the pay and benefits, according to the AP.
The former detective was released from prison in 2002 when another man confessed to the killing of a woman with whom Hornoff had had an affair.
"I don't think Shakespeare could find the words to adequately express how I feel," Hornoff said at the time of his release.
In 1989, Victoria Cushman was bludgeoned to death with a fire extinguisher. Hornoff became the main suspect after lying about the affair.
The police department suspended him without pay in 1994 after he was indicted, according to the AP. He was convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison.
The department fired Hornoff in 2000 after his conviction was upheld on appeal, the AP said.
Hornoff always claimed his innocence. But only after another man confessed to the crime did the court listen.
"I'm determined to see some, a lot of good come out of this," he said.
Betty Hornoff said she never lost faith in her son's innocence.
"I can't believe it took this long for him to get what he deserves," she said.
Hornoff is a fortunate man, said Peter Neufeld of the Innocence Project, an nonprofit organization that only handles cases where post-conviction DNA testing of evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence.
Of the 140 people the Innocence Project has helped to exonerate over the past 10 years only one has ever been reinstated to his previous profession.
"It's a new chapter for Jeffrey Hornoff in a life few can imagine living," Neufeld said.
Hornoff has said that he been unable to find a new job because of stress he has suffered, according to The Providence Journal.
CNN's Adaora Udoji contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
