Wrongfully convicted man awarded $50M in lawsuit against City of Chicago, police detectives

CHICAGO - Marcel Brown, who spent ten years in prison for a murder he did not commit, was awarded $50 million by a federal jury on Monday.

The jury also granted him $50,000 in punitive damages.

Brown, who was sentenced to 35 years, was exonerated after evidence emerged showing he had been coerced into a false confession.

In August 2008, Paris Jackson was shot and killed in Galewood's Amundsen Park. Brown, just 18 at the time, was arrested and charged as the getaway driver. According to his attorney, John Loevy, Brown had only gone to the park to pick up his sister when gunfire broke out.

"He goes over to the park to pickup his sister, people start shooting, they accuse him of being an accomplice and he had nothing to do with it," Loevy said.

Brown’s lawsuit claimed that prosecutors coerced his confession during a grueling 30-hour interrogation, in which he was denied legal counsel, phone calls to his family, and provided little food. His interrogation was recorded on video, which became key evidence in the case.

"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," said Locke Bowman, an attorney with Loevy & Loevy.

After leaving the Dirksen Federal Building with his family, Brown credited his mother for being his support during his time in prison. Brown, who has been free for six years, now works with Ceasefire, a violence prevention program, and says he plans to take care of his family with his settlement money.

A copy of the lawsuit can be viewed HERE.