(KAIR)--The first round of funds, earmarked for a Jefferson County man wrongly convicted for a child murder, has been approved as part of his first payment in a $7.5 million dollar settlement with Jefferson County.

Floyd Bledsoe spent nearly 16-years behind bars for the 1999 rape and murder of 14-year-old Camille Arfmann.

Bledsoe was released from prison in 2015 after his brother, Tom, confessed in a suicide note that he committed the crimes. Additionally, DNA evidence linked his father and brother to the Oskaloosa child.

Bledsoe, who received a $1 million settlement from the state of Kansas for his wrongful conviction, sued Jefferson County, and four members of its law enforcement, in federal court, leading to the $7.5 million settlement.

The Jefferson County Commission, Monday, unanimously approved a resolution “transferring funds (in the amount of $500,000) from the Jefferson County Capital Improvement Fund to the General fund for part of the first payment due in the Bledsoe Settlement.”

Bledsoe will receive an initial payment of $1.5 million, with the remainder to be paid over the next ten years, with the Commission, during its April 17 meeting, voting unanimously to approve the settlement agreement.