Recent history teaches that wrongful convictions do not happen by accident. They are the inevitable result of racial prejudice, illegal police tactics and abuse of power.
We are honored to represent victims of wrongful convictions. To date, we have secured over $100 million in settlements and verdicts, both in their fight for exoneration and in civil rights litigation to hold the bad state actors accountable.
Key Cases
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Beaman v. Normal
Wrongful Convictions
Alan Beaman spent over a decade in prison after being wrongfully convicted of the 1993 murder of his ex-girlfriend. The MacArthur Justice Center represents Mr. Beaman in his lawsuit against the City of Normal and the three former Normal police officers who orchestrated the wrongful conviction.
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Brown v. City of Chicago
Wrongful Convictions
Marcel Brown—age 18 and a recent high-school graduate—was arrested on September 3, 2008, four days after a shooting in a Chicago park that left another teenage boy dead. Police theorized that Marcel’s cousin (age 15) fired the fatal shot, and that Marcel was accountable because he drove his cousin to and from the park. After...
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Innocence Project v. National Museum of Health and Medicine
Wrongful Convictions
The Innocence Project has been at the forefront of exposing the scientific flaws in forensic “bite mark” methods and exonerating individuals wrongfully convicted as a result. As part of this work, the Innocence Project sought access to a federal archive that houses decades of records about forensic dentistry. The archive could hold the key to...
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Johnson v. City of Chicago
Wrongful Convictions
Charles Johnson, Larod Styles, LaShawn Ezell and Troshawn McCoy (known as the Marquette Park Four) were teenagers when they were arrested in 1995 for a double murder and robbery, even though no evidence tied them to the crime. After more than 20 years in prison for a crime they did not commit, all four are suing the City of Chicago, Chicago Police Officers and the Assistant State's Attorney responsible for their false imprisonment. The MacArthur Justice Center represents Mr. Johnson.
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Williams v. Louisiana (U.S. Supreme Court)
Wrongful Convictions
Corey Williams was wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder as an intellectually disabled 16-year old child, and spent 20 years in Louisiana prison for a crime that he did not commit. We represented Mr. Williams in a petition for certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court and obtained his immediate release from prison through a settlement with the State of Louisiana.
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Rivera v. City of Chicago
Wrongful Convictions
Jacques Rivera spent 21 years in prison for a crime he did not commit after Chicago Police, led by Reynaldo Guevara, framed him for murder. The MacArthur Justice Center and Loevy & Loevy represented Mr. Rivera in a civil rights suit against Guevara, the City of Chicago and other Chicago Police officers who worked with Guevara. On June 29, 2018, a jury awarded him $17 million.
Key Facts
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2,614 Exonerations
Since 1989, there have been 2,614 exonerations. -
167 from Death Row
Since 1973, 167 former death-row prisoners have been exonerated of all charges and set free. -
47% African-American
47% of the 1,900 exonerations listed in the National Registry of Exonerations (as of October 2016) are African American. -
Exoneration Capital
In 2019, there were 143 exonerations. Illinois had the most of any state with 30 exonerations. -
Reasons Why
Of those exonerations, there were 93 instances of official misconduct, 101 instances of perjury or false accusation, 24 false confessions, 24 instances of false/misleading evidence and 48 incorrect eyewitness identification.