Illinois Gives $36 Million to Wrongfully Convicted Men
March 7, 1999 - 0:0
CHICAGO Four men convicted of murder in Illinois, including two who had been on death row, received $36 million to settle a lawsuit filed after an investigation led in part by journalism students discovered they were innocent, a lawyer said on Friday. They suffered because the system went amok, said Larry Marshall, a law professor at Northwestern University in Chicago who represented the four.
The men involved in Friday's settlement were convicted in the 1978 slayings of Carol Schmal and Lawrence Lionberg, who were killed during an apparent robbery. Schmal had been raped. Dennis Williams and Verneal Jimerson, were sentenced to death in the case, and two others, Kenny Adams and Willie Raines, received life sentences. But Marshall told Reuters, They were framed by sheriff's deputies who closed their eyes to the truth.
The case against the four began to unravel when investigative journalism students at Northwestern, under the guidance of their professor and with the help of an investigator, discovered that the men were innocent. As a result of the investigation, three other people were later arrested and convicted in the two murders. Williams, Jimerson, Adams and Raines were freed in 1996 after an 18-year fight to clear their names and sued Cook County for wrongful imprisonment.
Marshall said on Friday Cook County agreed to pay $36 million to settle the case. The four men will share the money. The case was one of several death-row convictions investigated by journalism students at Northwestern. In February a man who had spent 16 years on death row and was within two days of execution was freed from prison after another man confessed to the double murder he had been accused of committing.
Marshall said Friday's case was further proof that the criminal justice system in Illinois involving capital cases is broken and needs fixing. Eleven death row convictions have been reversed in Illinois since capital punishment was reinstituted in 1977 more than any state except Florida. Efforts have been made in the state legislature to impose a moratorium on executions until the justice system is reviewed.
(Reuter)
The men involved in Friday's settlement were convicted in the 1978 slayings of Carol Schmal and Lawrence Lionberg, who were killed during an apparent robbery. Schmal had been raped. Dennis Williams and Verneal Jimerson, were sentenced to death in the case, and two others, Kenny Adams and Willie Raines, received life sentences. But Marshall told Reuters, They were framed by sheriff's deputies who closed their eyes to the truth.
The case against the four began to unravel when investigative journalism students at Northwestern, under the guidance of their professor and with the help of an investigator, discovered that the men were innocent. As a result of the investigation, three other people were later arrested and convicted in the two murders. Williams, Jimerson, Adams and Raines were freed in 1996 after an 18-year fight to clear their names and sued Cook County for wrongful imprisonment.
Marshall said on Friday Cook County agreed to pay $36 million to settle the case. The four men will share the money. The case was one of several death-row convictions investigated by journalism students at Northwestern. In February a man who had spent 16 years on death row and was within two days of execution was freed from prison after another man confessed to the double murder he had been accused of committing.
Marshall said Friday's case was further proof that the criminal justice system in Illinois involving capital cases is broken and needs fixing. Eleven death row convictions have been reversed in Illinois since capital punishment was reinstituted in 1977 more than any state except Florida. Efforts have been made in the state legislature to impose a moratorium on executions until the justice system is reviewed.
(Reuter)