Complaint Underlying $9 Million Settlement Of Illinois Federal Civil Rights Action Brought By Man Cleared After Serving 15 Years Of First Degree Murder Sentence
Note: This week's Document of the Week was not submitted to the Jury Verdict Team, but was obtained from documents filed with the court.
On Dec. 9, 1999, the body of a woman was found in the Greenbelt Forest Preserve in Waukegan, IL. Officers allegedly coerced Jeremy Tweedy to make false statements that implicated himself and Jason Strong, obtained a false corroboration of the story, coerced Strong to falsely confess, and withheld exculpatory evidence. Strong was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to imprisonment of 46 years. After spending over 15 years in prison, Strong's petition for a writ of habeas corpus was granted and his conviction was vacated on May 28, 2015. All charges against him were dropped. Strong was granted a certificate of innocence by the Circuit Court of Lake County on April 15, 2016.
On May 3, 2016, an action was commenced in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In an amended complaint filed against certain officers and municipalities on Sept. 7, 2016, Strong alleged claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C.S. § 1983 for violation of his rights secured by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, violation of due process, federal malicious prosecution, failure to intervene, conspiracy to deprive of constitutional rights, and Monell policy claims. Strong also alleged state law claims for malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, respondeat superior, and indemnification. The action was brought against Lucian Tessmann, William Valko, Donald Meadie, Michael Luff, Walter Holderbaum, Domenic Cappelluti, John Krempotic, Ed Wagner, Greg Duffey, Don Smith, Todd Williams, Alexander Fernandez, Leonard Brezinski, Richard Chiarello, the City of Waukegan, Sheriff of Lake County in his official capacity, the Village of Buffalo Grove, the Village of Lincolnshire, the Village of Libertyville, the Village of Barrington Hills, the Village of Vernon Hills, the City of North Chicago, Park City, the Village of Round Lake Beach, the County of Lake, and the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force.
The parties agreed to a proposed $9,000,000 settlement of the matter, according to an Aug. 28, 2017 News-Sun article. At a status hearing held before Judge Sidney I. Schenkier on Sept. 6, 2017, the parties reported on the status of finalizing their settlement and indicated that they would soon file dismissal papers.
Plaintiff was represented by David M. Shapiro, Locke E. Bowman, Stephen H. Weil, and Vanessa Del Valle of Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center in Chicago, IL; as well as Maria Hawilo and J. Samuel Tenenbaum of Bluhm Legal Clinic in Chicago, IL. Tessmann was represented by Peter Michael Trobe and Michael D. Furlong of Trobe Babowice & Associates, LLC in Waukegan, IL; as well as, Bradford Scott Krause and Jeffrey Richard Zehe of Nielsen Zehe Antas, P.C. in Chicago, IL.
Lexis Advance users may access the full summary here: Jason Strong v. Lucian Tessman, et al; 2017 Jury Verdicts LEXIS 11756.
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