In what appears to be the last chapter in the legal case of Roy Brown, the former Cayuga County man wrongly convicted of a 1991 murder, New York state has agreed to pay Brown $2.6 million to settle his lawsuit for wrongful imprisonment.

Brown spent 15 years in state prison after being convicted in 1992 of killing county worker Sabina Kulakowski.

He was freed last year after DNA evidence pointed to another man being the killer.

Brown had sought $5 million, but a settlement was reached just prior to Brown's case going to court this week.

It's impossible to put a price on 15 years in prison, but this agreement at least shows that Brown and the state were able to come to a compromise that both could agree on.

Brown's attorney said Tuesday that it's too bad Cayuga County officials can't be held personally liable for paying Brown back, but while investigative, prosecutorial mistakes or oversights may have helped lead to Brown's conviction, there is no evidence that anybody involved intentionally did anything wrong.

Brown may have been able to get a larger sum of money if his case had gone to trial - his attorney had hoped to give him a chance to describe the horrors of lengthy imprisonment - but he would also have likely waited much longer to get paid.

We know there are people who hold little sympathy for Brown because he had been less than a model citizen before his trial, but nobody should be imprisoned for a crime they didn't commit, and monetary awards like this one should serve to remind police and prosecutors of the need to be vigilant and fair with every case they're involved with.

With this settlement, the state is forced to accept some responsibility for Brown's hardship.