A man who wrongfully spent 27 years in an Illinois prison before DNA freed him should be paid up to $58 million to make up for his misery, his lawyer told a federal jury Thursday. Pardoned inmate Michael Evans should get up to $2 million for each of the 27 years he spent in prison. On top of that, Evans should get $1 million in punitive damages from each of the four main Chicago police detectives accused of conspiring to bring a sham case against him, his lawyer, Jon Loevy, said in closing arguments Thursday.
Evans, 47, is suing 10 former police officials for allegedly fabricating a case against him in the 1976 rape and murder of 9-year-old Lisa Cabassa, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Loevy said the officers faked evidence, manipulated witnesses and withheld favorable evidence. Evans was released from prison in 2003 after a lab test found that semen on Cabassa’s body did not match the DNA of Evans or his then-codefendant, Paul Terry. Gov. Blagojevich later pardoned the men.
Link: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-evans04.html