WINNIPEG - James Driskell, the Winnipeg man who spent 13 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, is being offered $4 million in compensation from the province and city.

Driskell had been suing police and prosecutors for $20 million, but reports from Winnipeg city council made public Friday indicated all sides have agreed to a $4-million payout for Driskell and $25,000 extra for his mother.

Under the deal, which city council still has to formally agree to Sept. 24, the city would pay $1.61 million and the province would fund the rest.

A provincial government spokesperson declined comment except to say: "A tentative settlement is under consideration by the province and the city and it would not be appropriate for us to say any more until both parties have had a chance to consider it."

Driskell could not immediately be reached for comment.

He had been convicted in 1991 in the death of Perry Dean Harder.

Both Driskell and Harder had been charged with auto theft, and the Crown contended Driskell shot Harder several times in the chest in June 1990 to keep him from giving incriminating evidence, then dumped his body in a shallow grave near some railway tracks.

The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted eventually took up the case and challenged key evidence used to put Driskell behind bars.

The Crown had accused Driskell of killing Harder in the back of his van, pointing to three hairs in the van an RCMP lab labelled as belonging to Harder.

However DNA tests done in England at the request of the association later revealed none of the hairs belonged to Harder.

Driskell was released on bail in 2003 and the federal justice minister quashed the conviction in 2005. The Crown didn't pursue another trial.

A subsequent inquiry delivered a scathing report last year, saying prosecutors and police were partly to blame.

In his report, commissioner Patrick LeSage said police "failed to disclose material information to the Crown before, during and after Driskell's trial."

As well, LeSage said, the Crown didn't correct misleading evidence the jury heard at Driskell's trial - specifically the false testimony of key Crown witness Ray Zanidean, who told the jury he was not getting special treatment or payments in exchange for his testimony.

In fact, Zanidean had been given immunity on an arson charge in Saskatchewan and was receiving tens of thousands of dollars in expenses and compensation.

The report also said then-police inspector Jack Ewatski, later Winnipeg's chief of police, "contributed to Driskell's continued incarceration" by not disclosing a report he prepared on the case in 1993 - two years after Driskell was convicted - which raised new questions about the Crown's case.

Driskell has kept a low profile since his release, working odd jobs and spending time with his wife, eight children and 12 grandchildren.

He has said the case points to a systemic problem in the justice system that may have put many other innocent people behind bars.