Chicago man awarded $50 million in damages after wrongful murder conviction

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $50 million in damages to a suburban Chicago man who was cleared of murder and released from prison in 2018 after spending about 10 years behind bars.

Monday’s unanimous jury verdict in favor of Marcel Brown, 34, of Oak Park, came after a two-week trial, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing federal court records.

Brown was arrested at 18 and sentenced to 35 years in prison after being convicted of being an accessory to the 2008 slaying of 19-year-old Paris Jackson in Chicago’s Galewood neighborhood, according to the lawsuit federal lawsuit he filed in 2019.

Brown was released from prison in July 2018. The criminal case against him was dropped following testimony from his mother and a lawyer hired by his mother, both of whom were prevented from speaking to him the night of his arrest.

Brown received a certificate of not guilty in 2019, according to his lawsuit, which named as defendants the city of Chicago, a group of Chicago police officers, an assistant Cook County district attorney and Cook County.

Brown’s lawsuit accused the defendants of violating his constitutional rights and prosecuting him. He also alleged that the defendants intentionally caused him emotional distress when they prevented him from speaking with a lawyer and extracted a false confession from him after more than a day of questioning, later found to be illegal .

In Monday’s decision, the jury split the damages into $10 million for Brown’s detention before his trial and $40 million for the post-conviction period, according to a court filing. Jurors also ordered one of the detectives in the case to pay Brown $50,000 in punitive damages, court records show.

Brown beamed Monday night as he addressed reporters outside Dirksen Federal District Court in downtown Chicago following the verdict, surrounded by his lawyers and family members.

“Justice was finally served for me and my family today,” Brown said. “We are just grateful that we can be here today. Thank you, jurors.”

Attorney Locke Bowman of the law firm Loevy & Loevy said the verdict should serve as a “wake-up call” to city leaders “that it’s time to understand how the Chicago Police Department conducts its interrogations.”

A Chicago law department spokesman said Monday night that the city is reviewing the verdict and evaluating its options.

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