A man who spent more than three years in Minnesota prisons sued Ramsey County in federal court on Thursday alleging he was framed by a Ramsey County sheriff's deputy.

Benajmin J. Hill, 42, was sentenced in 2013 on two counts of possession of a handgun, but convictions were later reversed by a postconviction court that found he had proven "by a preponderance of the evidence that the DNA was planted in this case" and that the state failed to disclose chain-of-custody records, according to a court of appeals opinion handed down in 2020.

The state Supreme Court in November of last year approved a $423,212.32 payment to Hill under the state Imprisonment and Exoneration Remedies Act.

In the lawsuit, Hill said he was framed by former Ramsey County sheriff's deputy Thomas Rudenick when the deputy took material from a DNA swab and planted it on two handguns that were found while investigating a robbery in which Hill was a suspect.

The handguns belonged to Hill's sister and one of Hill's employees at the pizza shop he ran on Maryland Avenue, Hill said.

Hill said he had never seen the guns, and took the case to trial believing that he would be cleared. A jury ruled otherwise and he was convicted based partly on the DNA evidence.

"It was the worst time of my life," said Hill. "They offered a plea bargain but I didn't take it. ... I had a hard time pleading guilty to something I know I didn't do."

In prison, Hill saw a news report about Rudenick when the deputy was caught pawning jewelry worth $4,600 to $5,200 from another case Rudenick had been investigating. Rudenick, who had worked for the Sheriff's Office since 1989, pleaded guilty in 2015 to theft and retired. He was sentenced to one day in jail and paid restitution of a few hundred dollars.

Hill's suit names Rudenick, the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, and unnamed "John Does" within the Sheriff's Office who may have known about Rudenick's scheme but didn't stop it. Hill's suit argues that Rudenick was behind in his work and was willing to cut corners to frame Hill, "a person he thought should be off the street."

The Attorney's Office could not comment on the suit, a spokesman said. Rudenick, who has since moved out of state, could not be reached for comment.

Attorneys Paul Applebaum and Thomas Hagler filed the suit. It seeks up to $45 million in judgment and $10 million in punitive damages.