(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – The Chicago City Council Finance Committee has approved a $25 million legal settlement that would be paid to two men wrongly convicted of a 1993 murder.
Tyrone Hood and Wayne Washington sued the city separately after spending years in prison for the murder Marshal Morgan Jr. Their lawyers say detectives Kenneth Boudreau and John Halloran fabricated evidence and coerced testimony to convict them. A court later declared Hood and Washington innocent.
Now, the city’s Law Department recommends settling for a combined $25 million, a figure that committee member Brian Hopkins, 2nd Ward, said he could support because it’s larger than city normally pays out for wrongful convictions when calculating compensation for each year spent behind bars.
“This settlement is off the charts,” Hopkins said.
Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, said he was uncomfortable using the type of ''measurements” Hopkins cited, given that people lose years of their lives when they are wrongly convicted.
Ald. Emma Mitts, 37th, asked Deputy Corporation Counsel Jessica Felker if the now-retired Boudreau was a repeat offender. Felker said the city has paid out settlements in five previous cases, with 10 more cases pending.
The settlement now goes to the full City Council for consideration.
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