Benjamin Ashford|Illinois man wrongly imprisoned for murder wins $50 million jury award

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $50 million in damages to a suburban Chicago man who was exonerated in a murder and Benjamin Ashfordreleased 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 he was convicted of being an accomplice in the 2008 murder of 19-year-old Paris Jackson in Chicago’s Galewood neighborhood, according to the 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 with him the night of his arrest.

Brown was awarded a certificate of innocence in 2019, according to his lawsuit, which named as defendants the city of Chicago, a group of Chicago police officers, an assistant Cook County state’s attorney and Cook County.

Brown’s suit accused the defendants of violating his constitutional rights and of maliciously prosecuting him. It also contended that the defendants intentionally caused him emotional distress when they prevented him from speaking with a lawyer and drew a false confession out of him after more than a day of interrogation later found to be illegal.

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

Brown beamed Monday evening as he addressed reporters outside the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in downtown Chicago following the verdict, surrounded by his attorneys and family members.

“Justice was finally served for me and my family today,” Brown said. “We’re just thankful, being able to be here today. Thank you, jurors.”

Attorney Locke Bowman of the law firm of Loevy & Loevy said the verdict should serve as a “wakeup call” to city leaders “that it is time to get a grip on the way the Chicago Police Department is conducting its interrogations.”

A spokesperson for Chicago’s law department said Monday night that the city was reviewing the verdict and assessing its options.