The city of Chicago recently agreed to pay $50 million to four men falsely put behind bars as teenagers for a murder case.
The settlement, announced last week, will compensate the men—Larod Styles, Troshawn McCoy, Lashawn Exell, and Charles Johnson—for the 20 years they served in prison.
With the new settlement, the city will reportedly pay $21 million while Chicago’s insurance company will pay approximately $29 million. The money will be part of four individual cases that were filed by each man against the city of Chicago.
Known as the “Marquette Park 4,” Styles, McCoy, Ezell and Johnson were all between the ages of 15 and 19 when they were coerced during police interrogation to confess that they were responsible for a robbery and murder. According to the case, no other evidence besides the statements were available to prove that they committed the crimes they were accused of.
“We are grateful that the City of Chicago has chosen to resolve our case and allow us to move on with our lives. No amount of money can ever return the years we lost due to Chicago Police misconduct that caused our collective 73 years of wrongful imprisonment,” said the four men in a released statement. “The City of Chicago must take steps to protect our teenagers from police abuses like those we endured.”
The settlement’s finalization announcement comes months after the city of Concord, North Carolina, agreed to pay $25 million to 68-year-old Ronnie Long.
Long spent over four decades in prison after he was wrongfully accused of sexually assaulting a white woman. Sentenced on Oct. 1, 1976, he was forced to stand in front of an all-white jury who voted to wrongfully convict him at the age of 21.
According to his trial, there were numerous issues with his case as all of the potential Black jurors were removed from selection for the case. There was also a lack of physical evidence as he failed to match the description of the suspect. The rape kit was also conducted but disappeared.
Although there were pieces of evidence to exonerate Long, such as hair from the real suspect, investigators failed to make known the results of the tests.
Long was officially released in Aug. 2020 when his conviction was overturned. The $25 million settlement was considered to be the second-largest settlement for a wrongful conviction.
