Kris Maharaj, who spent 38 years in Florida prison despite judge finding him innocent, dies
Kris Maharaj was convicted of the murder of a father and son back in 1986, but he always maintained his innocence. In 2019 a judge ruled he had proved so.
The wife of a British citizen who died in prison after being "falsely charged" and put on death row for murdering two people has said she is "devastated that he died alone in that horrible place".
Kris Maharaj, 85, who was convicted of the murder of two business associates back in 1986, died in the prison hospital "after 38 years fighting injustice", his lawyer Clive Stafford Smith said on X.
His wife, Marita, told Sky News: "I promised Kris in 1976 that we would be together until death us do part, and I am devastated that he died alone in that horrible place.
"I want him brought back to the UK for burial as the last place he would want to be is where he was falsely charged with murder.
"Then I will devote the rest of the time that God allows me to clearing his name, so I can go to meet him in heaven with a clear conscience that I have done my best for him."
Mr Maharaj, who was born in Trinidad but moved to England in 1960, was found to be responsible for the killing of father and son Derrick and Duane Moo Young in a Miami hotel room.
Mr Maharaj’s death sentence was overturned in 2002 and commuted to life, with the help of campaign group Reprieve.
The British citizen always protested his innocence and in 2019 a judge ruled he had proved it.
Despite a judge ruling Mr Maharaj was innocent, the US Court of Appeals ruled the evidence of innocence was not enough to free him.
Before his imprisonment, Mr Maharaj was a wealthy man, the owner of race horses and Rolls-Royces in the UK, when he travelled to Florida with his wife to buy a retirement property.
One evening, as they were eating dinner in a restaurant, he was arrested. Within months was convicted of killing the two business associates.
"When they found me guilty, I passed out, I fainted. I just couldn’t believe you could be found guilty [of] something you didn’t do - murder," he said when Sky News visited him for an interview four years ago.
Mr Smith, who is a human rights lawyer and founder of Reprieve, told Sky News he had to tell Mrs Maharaj her husband had died "lonely and alone".
"It is devastating for her," he said, adding she was a "unique spouse" as she "stood by Kris for 38 years" and "she did not just believe her husband to be innocent, but knew it".
He added: "We will certainly fulfil her wish and his, that is to continue to exonerate him for this crime that he patently did not commit."
Mr Maharaj said he was nowhere near Room 1215 of the Dupont Plaza Hotel on the night the father and son were killed.
His lawyer said his wife was with him at the time of the murders.
He was originally sentenced to death and spent 17 years on death row before, aided by a campaign involving dozens of British politicians, his sentence was commuted to life.
Kris’s wife, Marita, never got to see her husband released
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