Exonerated Chicago Man Settles Lawsuit for $3.6 Million

By Matthew Clarke

In January 2012, the City of Chicago settled a lawsuit against the city and five Chicago police officers brought by a man who was exonerated after nine years of incarceration for $3,600,000.

Robert Wilson was arrested by Chicago police officers James O'Brien, Gerard Carroll and John Halloran while standing at a bus stop on March 1, 1997. The previous day, at that same bus stop, June Siler, a 24-year-old white woman, was attacked with a box cutter. Like Wilson, the assailant was black and of small stature. Those were the only characteristics they had in common.

Wilson was held for 30 hours during which he was allegedly physically abused, denied sleep and food, denied his blood pressure medication, intimidated, promised leniency if he confessed and threatened with violence if he did not. Fearing for his life, Wilson confessed to the crime. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Siler initially denied that Wilson was her assailant, noting that he appeared to be too old. The defendants allegedly manipulated Siler into providing a positive identification of Wilson.

Prior to the trial, the person who had attacked Siler, Jerryco Wagner, continued to attack other white women in a similar fashion. He was caught fleeing the scene of his sixth such assault. Chicago police detective Edward Triggs participated in the investigation of the Siler assault and the other assaults committed by Wagner. When Wagner was asked about the Siler assault, he confessed to it. This information was not given to Wilson or Siler.

At his trial, Wilson attempted to introduce evidence of the string of attacks by Wagner. The judge refused to allow it. His attorney tried to show Siler a photo of Wagner and she said she wanted to see it, but this was not allowed.

Wilson pursued five levels of state direct and post-conviction appeals. All were denied. Wilson then filed a petition for a federal writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The federal court found that Wilson had been denied his Sixth Amendment right to present a full defense when he was not allowed to introduce evidence of Wagner's crimes. The court threw out the conviction and the state refused to retry Wilson, making him a free man after nine years of imprisonment.

After Wilson's exoneration, Siler was shown Wagner's photo and told about his crime spree for the first time. She recanted her identification of Wilson, told about the police manipulation of her identification and testimony and apologized to Wilson.

Wilson filed a federal civil rights lawsuit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the police officers and the City of Chicago. Among other damages, Wilson had suffered loss of relationship with his children and had lost his relationship with his life partner due to the conviction and incarceration. The city opted to settle the suit for $3.6 million, including attorney and other fees. Wilson was represented by attorney Locke E. Bowman of The MacArthur Justice Center at the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago. See: Wilson v. O'Brien, U.S.D.C. (N.D. Ill.), Case No. 07-cv-3994.

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