A Chicago federal jury has ordered the city and a group of Chicago Police officers to pay $50 million to Marcel Brown, a man who was determined to to have been wrongly convicted of being an accomplice to murder.
According to the man's lawyers, the payout ordered under the verdict is the largest of its kind in U.S. history.
The verdict was awarded Sept. 10 at the conclusion of a two-week trial.
Brown's attorneys said the verdict should serve as a "wake up call" for the city concerning its policing practices and strategies for fighting against lawsuits accusing police of misconduct.
Brown, now 34, was arrested in 2008 at the age of 18 and charged as an accomplice in the murder of 19-year-old Paris Jackson in Amundsen Park on Chicago's West Side.
According to court documents, after a fight broke out among rival groups in the park on the evening of Aug. 30, 2008, Brown drove two others to the park, including a man who was carrying a loaded gun and fired multiple shots as part of the dispute.
Jackson's body was later found in the park by police. Police determined the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the back.
According to court documents, after police interviewed 14 witnesses, they arrested Brown four days later and Chicago Police detectives questioned him intermittently over the course of 33 hours. Brown claims during this time police deprived him of food and sleep and allegedly prevented him from making a phone call.
According to court documents, Brown's family hired a lawyer, but when the lawyer attempted to get to Brown, police allegedly told the lawyer Brown didn't want to see him, and allegedly never told Brown his lawyer had arrived.
Brown's attorneys presented video evidence they said showed police detectives using "deceptive and coercive tactics" during the interrogation.
Police have disputed and denied Brown's claims.
According to court documents, Brown repeatedly denied knowng the accused gunman had a weapon when he drove him to the park. But Brown ultimately conceded he might have known about the gun and that he had heard the gunman making threats on the way to the park.
Using that confession, prosecutors placed Brown on trial and secured a conviction. Brown was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Ten years after his arrest, Brown and his lawyers from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Center on Wrongful Convictions persuaded a Cook County judge to vacate Brown's conviction.
A month later, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx agreed to drop charges, because they said they couldn't overcome the judge's ruling that Brown had been denied his right to an attorney during interrogation.
Foxx's office did not seek to appeal that ruling.
The decision to drop charges drew outrage from police and their supporters, who called the assertion that police would deny access to a lawyer "bizarre."
Quickly following Foxx's decision to drop charges and the award of a Certificate of Innocence, Brown and his lawyers filed suit in Chicago federal court demanding the city pay Brown for his allegedly wrongful conviction and incarceration.
After five years in court, jurors ultimately sided with Brown, ordering the city to pay him a total of $50 million. They also ordered one of the police detectives who allegedly led the interrogation, identified as Michael Mancuso, to pay Brown $50,000 in punitive damages.
In a statement following the verdict, Brown said: "Justice was finally served for me and my family today. "We're just thankful, being able to be her today. Thank you, jurors."
The city has not yet indicated if it will seek a new trial or appeal after the judge enters the judgment in coming days.
Brown has been represented by attorneys Jon Loevy, Locke Bowman and Tom Kayes, of the firm of Loevy & Loevy; and Jonathan Manes, of the Roderick and Solange Macarthur Justice Center, all of Chicago.
The Loevy firm has led the way in securing judgments and settlements from the city of Chicago in recent years over alleged police misconduct and wrongful convictions. According to city data, as of 2023, the Loevy had filed at least 111 lawsuits against the city since 2010, primarily in suits alleging police misconduct or Freedom of Information Act violations by the city. From those cases, city records show the Loevy firm reaped nearly $33 million in attorney fees.
Additionally, in 2022, city records showed the Loevy firm represented other clients who collectively secured more than $42 million in settlements from the city.
Lawyers from the Loevy firm also have deep connections with the Chicago-based Exoneration Project, a non-profit organization associated with the University of Chicago School of Law, which has petitioned courts to reopen criminal convictions, even for criminals who have confessed to heinous crimes.
Eight attorneys who also work at the Loevy firm are listed among 18 total staff members listed on the Exoneration Project's website, including Russell Ainsworth, Deobra Loevy, Theresa "Tess" Kleinhaus, David B. Owens, Amy Robinson Staples, Elliot Slosar and Josh Tepfer, who serves as the Exoneration Project's executive director.
According to published reports, the city of Chicago has agreed to pay about $300 million in settlements to end lawsuits claiming police misconduct since 2021 under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and current Mayor Brandon Johnson, including $81 million in 2023.