A federal jury on Monday awarded $50 million in damages to a man who spent 10 years in prison after being convicted of a murder he did not commit in a lawsuit against the city of Chicago and two Chicago Police Department detectives.
Marcel Brown, who was wrongfully convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 35 years in prison for a 2008 murder, was also awarded $50,000 in punitive damages, the lawsuit said. Fox 32.
He was falsely accused of the murder of Paris Jackson, who was shot to death in August 2008 in Amundsen Park in the Galewood neighborhood.
Brown, who was 18 at the time, was arrested and charged after Jackson's death as the suspected getaway driver.
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Marcel Brown, who spent 10 years in prison after being convicted of a murder he didn't commit, was awarded $50 million by a federal jury. (Getty Images)
But his lawyer, John Robey, said he had only been at the park to pick up his sister when the shooting began.
“He went to the park to pick up his sister and people started shooting and they accused him of being an accomplice, but he had nothing to do with it,” Robey told Fox 32.
Brown was eventually acquitted after it was revealed he had been coerced into making a false confession, and he has been a free man for six years since his release from prison.
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Marcel Braun was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 35 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. (iStock)
According to Brown's lawsuit, detectives relentlessly hounded and threatened Brown during more than 34 hours of interrogation, during which they denied him legal advice, denied him phone calls to his family and provided him with very little food.
Due to state law requiring interrogations in murder cases to be videotaped, the interrogation was videotaped and ultimately became a key piece of evidence in the case that led to his exoneration.
The wrongful conviction lawsuit names as defendants the city of Chicago, two police detectives and the prosecutor in the original case. Brown was released after a judge granted a new trial and prosecutors dropped the charges.
Marcel Braun was ultimately acquitted after evidence showed he had been coerced into making a false confession. (Getty Images)
“This $50 million judgment is a wake-up call for Mayor Johnson and Superintendent Snelling that it's time to take control over how the Chicago Police Department investigates crimes,” Locke Bowman, an attorney with Robey & Robey who is representing Brown, told Fox 32.
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As he left the Dirksen Federal Building with his family on Monday, Brown told reporters that his mother had been a supportive presence during his time in prison.
He now works for the violence prevention program Ceasefire and said he plans to use the settlement money to support his family.
