Archie Williams’ AGT Settlement: Suit Dismissed, Fund Pays Instead

Archie Williams’s lawsuit against the City of Baton Rouge and the officials he blamed for his wrongful conviction was dismissed at every level, with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming that dismissal on November 4, 2025. The federal courts held that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity, leaving Williams with no damages award for the 36 years and two months he spent in Angola prison for a rape and stabbing he did not commit. His only financial recovery has come through Louisiana’s statutory compensation fund for exonerees, capped at $330,000 and paid in $25,000 annual installments.

What the Lawsuit Claimed

On March 17, 2020, Metairie attorney Jeffrey Mitchell filed a federal civil rights suit on Williams’s behalf in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, styled Archie Williams v. City of Baton Rouge, et al., Case No. 3:20-cv-00162. The complaint alleged violations of Williams’s Fourteenth Amendment rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and added state law claims for malicious prosecution, spoliation of evidence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.1GovInfo. Williams v. City of Baton Rouge, 3:20-cv-00162

The core accusations were that investigators had suppressed exculpatory fingerprint evidence, used suggestive lineup procedures to manufacture an eyewitness identification, and distorted serology results.2WAFB. Exonerated After Over Three Decades, Singer Archie Williams Will Sue Williams named several categories of defendants:

How the Case Was Dismissed

The lawsuit never reached a jury. On June 10, 2024, United States District Judge Brian A. Jackson granted summary judgment for the three forensic defendants, finding that Williams had not shown a violation of clearly established constitutional rights and that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity.4Keogh Cox. Forensic Defendants Dismissed From Wrongful Conviction Suit

Four months later, on October 18, 2024, Judge Jackson granted summary judgment to the police defendants and to the City and Parish on the same qualified immunity grounds, dismissing every remaining claim with prejudice. The court noted that while Louisiana had acknowledged Williams’s factual innocence, the law did not provide a remedy for his specific federal claims in this case.1GovInfo. Williams v. City of Baton Rouge, 3:20-cv-00162

Williams appealed both rulings to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit under Case No. 24-30723. On November 4, 2025, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgments in their entirety, holding that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity and that there was no error in granting summary judgment on the state law and municipal liability claims.5Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Williams v. City of Baton Rouge, No. 24-30723

There is no settlement in this case. Reporting sometimes pairs Williams’s name with the word “settlement” because of his post-release fame, but the civil docket shows a full defense victory on qualified immunity, not a negotiated payout.

The Wrongful Conviction Behind the Suit

The claims in the lawsuit trace back to a Baton Rouge home invasion on December 9, 1982, in which a 30-year-old woman was raped and stabbed. Williams, then 22, was arrested on January 4, 1983, after a confidential informant said he resembled a composite sketch. He stood about five feet four inches tall, shorter than the descriptions witnesses had given.6Innocence Project. Archie Williams

The victim identified Williams only after viewing at least four lineups that contained him. A second witness picked a different man and put her certainty at about 70 percent.6Innocence Project. Archie Williams Fingerprints from the scene did not match Williams, and the prosecutor told the jury they likely belonged to service workers.7Duke Law Forensics Forum. Williams Exoneration On April 21, 1983, a jury convicted Williams of aggravated rape, attempted first-degree murder, and aggravated burglary, and he was sentenced to life without parole.8CaseMine. State v. Williams

The case broke open in 2019. After years of Innocence Project litigation to get the unmatched crime scene prints searched against the FBI’s Next Generation Identification database, 19th Judicial District Commissioner Kinasiyumki Kimble ordered the search on March 14, 2019. Within hours, it returned a match to Stephen Forbes, a serial rapist who had confessed to multiple attacks in the same Baton Rouge neighborhood and died in prison in 1996 without ever being questioned about the 1982 assault. On March 21, 2019, prosecutors joined the defense in asking that the convictions be vacated. Williams walked free that day, after 36 years and two months.9Innocence Project. Fingerprint Database Match Establishes Archie Williams’ Innocence

What Williams Actually Receives: Louisiana’s Compensation Fund

With the federal lawsuit gone, Williams’s compensation comes entirely from Louisiana’s Innocence Compensation Fund. Under the version of the statute in effect when he applied, exonerees who proved factual innocence by clear and convincing evidence could receive up to $25,000 per year of incarceration, with a total cap of $250,000.10Louisiana State Legislature. RS 15:572.8 Williams was reported to be eligible for a maximum of $330,000, paid in annual installments of $25,000 each September.11Crescent to Capitol. Wrongful Convictions: Innocence Project New Orleans Spread across 37 years behind bars, that is roughly $8,500 per year of incarceration.

Louisiana amended the statute in 2022 to raise the annual payment to $40,000 and the cap to $400,000, add a $250,000 lump-sum option, and allow previously compensated exonerees to file for supplemental payments by July 2023.10Louisiana State Legislature. RS 15:572.8 Whether Williams sought a supplemental award under those amendments is not reflected in available reporting.

A Pending Threat to the Fund

The state program itself now faces repeal. In April 2025, the Louisiana House Criminal Justice Committee advanced HB 673, a bill that would eliminate the wrongful conviction compensation statute and abolish the fund. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the repeal would not apply retroactively, meaning current recipients would keep their existing awards.12Fox 8 Live. Louisiana House Advances Bill to Eliminate Wrongful Conviction Compensation Law Supporters of the repeal argued that exonerees should instead pursue relief through federal civil rights litigation, the same avenue that qualified immunity closed off in Williams’s case.

Where Williams Stands Now

Williams has continued to speak publicly about wrongful convictions and about people he believes are still wrongly held at Angola. “There are many innocent people in Angola — guys who have served more than 50 years,” he said. “I’m not free until they are free.”13NBC. Where Is Archie Williams Since America’s Got Talent Legally, his path to damages is exhausted at the federal level. Financially, he is left with the annual state check and whatever the Louisiana legislature decides to do with the fund that issues it.