A man who spent a decade behind bars following a conviction for a murder he did not commit was awarded $50 million by a federal jury on Monday following a lawsuit against the City of Chicago and two Chicago police detectives.
Marcel Brown, who was wrongfully convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 35 years in connection with a 2008 murder, was also awarded $50,000 in punitive damages, according to Fox 32.
He was falsely accused of the August 2008 killing of Paris Jackson, who was fatally shot in Amundsen Park in the Galewood neighborhood.
Brown, who was 18 at the time, was arrested and charged on allegations he was the getaway driver after Jackson’s death.
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But his attorney, John Loevy, said he was only at the park to pick up his sister when the shooting started.
“He goes over to the park to pick up his sister, people start shooting, they accuse him of being an accomplice and he had nothing to do with it,” Loevy said, according to Fox 32.
Brown was eventually exonerated after evidence revealed he had been coerced into a false confession. He has been free for six years following his release from prison.
According to Brown’s lawsuit, detectives badgered and threatened him during an interrogation lasting more than 34 hours. During this interrogation, detectives denied Brown legal counsel, phone calls to his family and he was not offered much food.
The interrogation was recorded on video under a state law requiring murder interrogations to be recorded. The videotaped interrogation ultimately became crucial evidence in the case that resulted in his exoneration.
The wrongful conviction lawsuit names Chicago, two police detectives and the prosecutor in the original case. Brown was released after a judge granted him a new trial and prosecutors dropped the charges.
“This $50 million dollar verdict is a wake-up call to Mayor Johnson and Superintendent Snelling that it’s time to get a grip on the way CPD conducts its investigations,” Locke Bowman, an attorney with Loevy & Loevy, which represented Brown, said, according to Fox 32.
Brown told reporters as he was leaving the Dirksen Federal Building on Monday with his family that his mother was his support during his time in prison.
He now works with Ceasefire, a violence prevention program, and said he plans to use the settlement money to support his family.
