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A man who served 27 years in prison before his murder conviction was overturned was awarded $1.4 million Wednesday, Maryland's largest award for a wrongful conviction. Michael Austin, 56, was convicted in 1974 of killing a man at a market, but his conviction was overturned and he was freed in 2001. A witness told police the shooter was a light-skinned black man, about 5-foot-8. Austin is 6-foot-5 and is dark skinned. The judge who overturned the conviction said Austin's trial lawyer, who is now dead, was incompetent and the prosecution committed errors at the trial. The award, to be paid over 10 years, was approved by the state Board of Public Works, made up of the governor, the state treasurer and the state comptroller. "There isn't enough money to pay you for all your pain and suffering," Comptroller William Donald Schaefer told Austin. [more]