CHICAGO — After spending seven years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Marcel Brown has been awarded a $50 million settlement from the City of Chicago. The wrongful conviction, which stemmed from a 2008 shooting that killed 19-year-old Paris Jackson, was overturned in 2018 following revelations about the mishandled investigation.
At just 18 years old, Brown was implicated in Jackson’s death, which occurred at Amundsen Park on Chicago’s West Side. The accusation was principally based on Brown’s alleged role as the getaway driver for his then 15-year-old cousin, the accused shooter. An intense and grueling 34-hour interrogation by police ultimately coerced Brown into making a false statement, which served as the primary evidence leading to his conviction in 2011.
The case began to unravel when the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions investigated. They found significant errors in the police investigation and discovered evidence suggesting that Jackson had been inadvertently shot by his friends, not Brown’s cousin.
Once exonerated, Brown filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department, claiming that the officers involved had forced a confession from him. His legal team, led by attorney Jon Loevy, emphasized the severe impact this case had on Brown’s formative years.
During a press conference, Brown described the ordeal as traumatic, likening his experience to being “thrown into a den of lions without any regard for his wellbeing or innocence.” He detailed his struggles and the dehumanizing treatment he endured while caught in the machinery of the criminal justice system.
Brown’s story is a sobering reminder of the fallibility of the criminal process and the devastating consequences that follow when it fails. The $50 million verdict represents one of the largest settlements in a wrongful conviction case, reflecting the severity of the miscarriage of justice.
The Chicago Department of Law responded to the verdict by stating that it is reviewing the details of the case and considering its next legal actions. Meanwhile, Brown plans to use the substantial financial compensation to support his family and start anew, focusing on his long-delayed personal freedoms and recovery from his harrowing experience.
This case adds to a troubling record of wrongful convictions in Chicago, a city already grappling with issues of police misconduct and systemic failures in its legal and correctional systems. For Brown, and hopefully many others in his situation, this settlement marks a significant personal victory and a beacon of hope for rectifying other such injustices around the country.