A federal jury on Monday awarded $50 million in damages to a person exonerated in a 2008 homicide, one of many largest sums ever awarded for a wrongful conviction.
Marcel Brown, 34, spent about 10 years in jail after he was convicted of being an confederate within the homicide of 19-year-old Paris Jackson in Amundsen Park within the Galewood neighborhood, in response to the grievance he filed in federal courtroom in 2019. Brown was arrested at 18 and sentenced to 35 years in jail.
Brown was launched from jail in 2018 and the prison case in opposition to him was dropped following testimony from his mom and a lawyer employed by his mom, each of whom have been prevented from talking with him the evening of his arrest.
He was awarded a certificates of innocence in 2019, the grievance states.
The lawsuit named the town of Chicago, a gaggle of Chicago law enforcement officials, an assistant Cook dinner County state’s lawyer and Cook dinner County, and argued that the defendants had violated his Fifth and Fourteenth Modification rights, maliciously prosecuted him and deliberately brought about him emotional misery once they prevented him from talking with a lawyer and drew a false confession out of him after greater than a day of interrogation later discovered to be unlawful.
The unanimous, $50 million verdict got here after a two-week trial that started Aug. 26, in response to federal courtroom information. The award is sort of double that given to Adam Grey in 2023, years after his launch from jail for a wrongful conviction in a deadly double arson. Eddie Bolden was awarded $25.2 million in 2021 after being cleared in a double homicide case from 1994.
The jury cut up the damages into $10 million for Brown’s detention previous the trial and $40 million for the postconviction interval, in response to a courtroom submitting. The jury additionally ordered one of many detectives on the case to pay Brown $50,000 in punitive damages, courtroom information present.
A spokesperson for the town regulation division mentioned Monday evening that the town was reviewing the decision and assessing its choices.
Talking Monday night exterior the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, a beaming Brown addressed reporters surrounded by his attorneys and members of the family.
“Justice was lastly served for me and my household as we speak,” Brown mentioned. “We’re simply grateful, having the ability to be right here as we speak. Thanks, jurors.”
Lawyer Locke Bowman of Loevy and Loevy mentioned the decision ought to function a “wakeup name” to metropolis leaders “that it’s time to get a grip on the best way the Chicago Police Division is conducting its interrogations.”
Sporting a light-weight blue go well with and tie, Brown gestured to his girlfriend, daughter and mom, whom he described as “my rock and my assist” all through his years behind bars. He mentioned he has discovered work with the anti-violence group Ceasefire.
As for the longer term, Brown mentioned he wished to “maintain my household and luxuriate in my freedom.”
After the information convention, Brown scooped up his daughter, grinned yet another time for a scrum of TV cameras and walked off into the Loop.
