Politics
Chicago to Pay $23.4M to Settle 3 Police Misconduct Cases
Video: Joining “Chicago Tonight: Black Voices” is exoneree James Gibson, who spent nearly three decades in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a double murder. The Chicago City Council approved a $14.75 million settlement for Gibson. (Produced by Abena Bediako)
The Chicago City Council agreed Wednesday to pay $23.4 million to resolve three lawsuits alleging a wide range of misconduct by Chicago police officers.
Less than six months into the year, Chicago taxpayers have spent at least $189.3 million to resolve nearly two and a half dozen lawsuits, exceeding its budget to resolve lawsuits alleging police misconduct by more than $100 million, city records show.
It is unclear how the city will find the money to make the payments approved Wednesday by the City Council, since it has already exhausted the $82 million officials set aside to cover police misconduct settlements and judgments in 2025.
Chicago taxpayers have now spent nearly $207 million since January 2019 to resolve 55 lawsuits brought by people who were wrongfully convicted based on evidence gathered by the Chicago Police Department.
In the largest settlement approved Wednesday, Chicago taxpayers will pay $14.75 million to a man who spent more than 29 years in prison after being convicted of a double murder he did not commit.
For more than three decades, James Gibson has said he was tortured by Chicago police detectives directly supervised by Jon Burge, a disgraced former Chicago police commander. Dozens of lawsuits and complaints alleging physical abuse have been filed against detectives trained by Burge, who city officials admit tortured and beat more than 100 Black men during his career.
Though no physical evidence or eyewitness ever linked Gibson to the murders of 61-year-old Lloyd Benjamin and 56-year-old Hunter Wash in an Englewood garage in December 1989, the then 23-year-old was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison after telling police he was in the garage when the two men were killed.
Gibson said he made that statement after being punched in his ribs and neck 30 to 40 times, kicked in the groin twice and slapped several times while handcuffed to a table during an interrogation that lasted three days. Not only was Gibson denied food and water while being questioned by police, but he also claims an officer used a “silver-colored iron” to burn a tattoo off his right arm, leaving a triangular-shaped scar, according to his lawsuit, which he filed five years ago.
Gibson and his lawyer, Andrew Stroth, on Wednesday stressed that no amount of money will ever make Gibson whole.
“There’s no dollar amount that can make up for what I lost,” Gibson said. “I lost my mom. I lost everything. I never did the things that my mother set out for me to do, graduating out of high school, going to college.”
During his time in prison, Gibson became what he calls a “jailhouse lawyer,” dedicating his time to learning the law and assisting his fellow inmates with similar stories. Since his release in 2019, he started the Clara and James Gibson Foundation, a digital archive project sharing stories of individuals wrongfully convicted in the U.S.
“This is bigger than just me,” Gibson said. “This is a pattern of practice. Somebody got to be on notice about this atrocity. They’ve been stealing our brothers and cousins, our aunties, your uncles and grandfathers.”
Also approved Wednesday was a $7.5 million settlement going to Bernard Williams, who spent 23 years in prison in connection with a 1996 murder he was later acquitted of committing.
Bernard Williams was 17 when he was convicted in 1998 of killing Gary Thomas outside Wash’s Lounge in West Garfield Park following an investigation led by now former Chicago Police Detective Kriston Kato, who has been accused by dozens of Chicagoans of beating them into confessing to crimes they did not commit.
Williams was the first of eight defendants who were convicted based on evidence gathered by Kato to be retried after their convictions were overturned.
Former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx recused her office from the cases to avoid “the appearance of impropriety” because Kato, who retired from the Chicago Police Department in 2006, is married to Cook County Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan, who presides over criminal cases.
In the final case, Chicago taxpayers will pay $2.1 million to a man whose lawsuit alleged he was framed three times by convicted former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts.
William Carter spent a total of four years in jail after pleading guilty in two cases and being convicted in a third case that he alleges were based on false evidence gathered by Watts, who was convicted in 2013 of taking bribes, and other officers.
Carter was granted a certificate of innocence in 2017 in all three cases, which date back to 2004 and 2006, records show.
In all, Chicago taxpayers have paid $11.3 million to three men who were also framed by Watts.
Between 2016 and September 2024, Chicago taxpayers paid more than $11.2 million to defend Watts.
Abena Bediako contributed to this report.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
