Jury in Ill. awards $21M for wrongful conviction

[March 19, 2010]  CHICAGO (AP) -- A federal jury has awarded a Chicago man $21 million in what officials say is largest wrongful conviction judgment in the city of Chicago's history.

Thirty-nine-year-old Juan Johnson was convicted of beating a man to death in 1991 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

An Illinois appeals court reversed his conviction in 2002 after new evidence showed a detective coerced witnesses to name him. Johnson was acquitted at a second trial in 2004.

His lawyer, Jon Loevy, says two people testified in the civil lawsuit that the detective pressured them to implicate Johnson.

The city's attorney, Jim Sotos, says gang members pressured the witnesses to change their stories and he'll ask for a new trial.

The detective hasn't been criminally charged.

[Associated Press]

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