Only on WRAL: Wrongfully-convicted man who spent 43 years in prison says Wilson County's reimbursement isn't enough

Charles Ray Finch spent more than 40 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Now, Wilson County is giving him millions to make up for it.

43 years, that's how much time Finch says he can never get back after he was wrongfully imprisoned for murder, and no amount of money can change that.

"Let me out free, they let me out with nothing. Just threw me in the street like a dog," he said.

The 83-year-old can be found watching the world go by on his porch in Wilson. For a long time, it was all he could do.

"It makes me still want to cry, how much time I spent in prison," Finch said.

Finch was found innocent and released in 2019. He sued the county, and this week, they reached a $2 million settlement, with Wilson County set to pay him $1 million by June 10, followed by two, $500,000 payments over the next year.

In a statement, Wilson County commissioners say they believe the settlement was reasonable. But Finch disagrees.

"I don’t feel like it’s enough for the time I spent," he said. "I spent 43 years in prison. Plus they had me on death row, they just didn’t kill me."

Finch says $2 million won't be enough to support him and his seven children.

And some of those children say there's no price tag that could make up for what Finch went through in prison.

"There’s not enough money that can amount to the situation that he went through, the 43 years of incarceration, loss of his family members and all the stuff missed," said Finch's son, Michael Jones.

Finch is moving forward with a federal lawsuit against two people in the State Bureau of Investigation who he says mishandled his case.