$50 million settlement recommended for 4 men wrongfully convicted of 1995 double murder
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Attorneys for the city of Chicago are recommending a $50 million settlement with four men who were wrongfully convicted of a 1995 double murder and spent 20 years in prison before they were cleared.
The City Council Finance Committee on Monday will vote on the proposed settlement with the so-called "Marquette Park Four," who were exonerated in 2017 in the robbery and murders of Khaled Ibrahim and Yousef Ali at a car dealership on the Southwest Side.
Taxpayers would cover $21 million of the settlement, while the city's insurance company would pay the remaining $29 million. If the Finance Committee approves, the City Council could vote on the settlement on Wednesday.
Charles Johnson, Larod Styles, Troshawn McCoy, and Lashawn Ezell were all teenagers when they confessed to taking part in the robbery and murders but have said their confessions were coerced. Their attorneys have said no physical or forensic evidence linked them to the crime.
In 2017, Cook County prosecutors recommended vacating the men's convictions after determining they could not meet their burden of proof if their cases were retried.
Johnson and Styles were sentenced to life in prison for killing Ali and Ibrahim in a robbery at their car dealership at 75th and Western. They were accused of stealing two cars.
Johnson, a Cola-Cola deliveryman, was arrested after he returned home from work and signed a confession saying he planned to steal cars for parts to sell on the black market. He claims Chicago Police detectives pressured him into confessing.
Their attorneys said after their convictions, they were able to test 23 fingerprints connected to the murder scene.
The tests showed a match between fingerprints found on a car at the used-car lot and fingerprints on the adhesive side of a price sticker torn off one of the two cars stolen from the lot. Those same fingerprints were also found on the stolen cars. The prints belonged not to any of the "Marquette Park Four" but to a felon who lived a block from where the stolen cars were recovered.
Ezell, Styles, Johnson, and McCoy sued the city a year after they were exonerated. All four have since received certificates of innocence.
No one else has been convicted of the murders.
