A federal appeals court said a U.S. district judge made a mistake in adding $36 million in prejudgment interest to what was likely the highest jury award in a wrongful capital conviction dispute at the time.

In the underlying 2021 trial, a jury awarded $62 million in compensatory damages to two half-brothers from North Carolina who have intellectual disabilities and were wrongfully convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl. The jury found that the brothers, Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, were coerced by police into signing fabricated confessions.