WILLIS V. FISH
Update (April 5, 2004)
MacArthur Client Gets $2.6 Million Settlement for Wrongful Imprisonment
MacArthur Justice Center client John Willis recently accepted a $2.6 million settlement from the City of Chicago and Cook County of a lawsuit that claimed Willis had served over eight years in prison for two rapes and a series of armed robberies because police and prosecutors withheld evidence that suggested Willis was innocent.
"We're pleased with this outcome. It will mean that John Willis will be financially secure for the rest of his life, which he richly deserves," said MacArthur Justice Center Legal Director Locke Bowman.
The MacArthur Justice Center and co-counsel Standish E. Willis filed the civil rights litigation in the Circuit Court of Cook County in February 2000.
Update (February 2000)
Civil Rights Lawsuit Says Willis Wrongfully Imprisoned Despite Suppressed, Exonerating Evidence
The MacArthur Justice Center and co-counsel Standish E. Willis are litigating a civil rights case on behalf of John Willis, who was convicted of a series of rapes that DNA evidence later conclusively proved he did not commit. Chicago Police Department (CPD) crime lab investigators analyzed material recovered from one of the crime scenes and found no evidence that the perpetrator was a person with ABO blood type B, which is John Willis's blood type. This exonerating evidence was hidden from Mr. Willis and his criminal defense counsel for many years. The civil rights litigation, filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County in February 2000, seeks damages from CPD forensic scientist Pamela Fish and others for hiding these lab results.
Willis complaint (pdf)
