Date: 12-15-2016

Case Style:

Candace Gorman

Jon Loevy

and

Anand Swaminathan, Steve Art, Sam Heppell, Tony Balkissoon, Katie Roche, Adrian Prados and Melissa Dupee, Andy Finke, and Sladjana Vuckovic for Nathan Feilds

Defendant's Attorney: Terrence Burns, Harry Arger, Daniel Noland, Molly Thompson and Paul Michalik for the City of Chicago

Shelly Kulwin and Rachel Katz for David O'Callaghan

Description: Chicago, IL - Plaintiff Awarded $22.04 Million in Damages

Plaintiff Nathson Fields was convicted of a 1984 double homicide and sentenced to death based on three eyewitness identifications procured by Defendant Chicago Police Detective David O’Callaghan, and the testimony of a gang member-turned-police informant who claimed that Plaintiff had confessed to the shooting. After his convictions were eventually vacated, Plaintiff was re-tried and acquitted in 2009.

Throughout the period of his incarceration, Plaintiff made numerous requests for the Chicago Police Department to produce a copy of the “street file” in his case. These requests were consistently denied on the basis that such a file did not exist. However, a street file for the 1984 double homicide did exist, containing numerous documents with information about alternative suspects not contained in the official police file, but the street file was not produced until civil discovery in 2010.

At trial, Plaintiff alleged that the Defendant Officers violated his constitutional rights by fabricating false eyewitness identifications, fabricating testimony from informants who falsely implicated Plaintiff in the shooting, and suppressing exculpatory evidence by burying it in a street file. Plaintiff also alleged that the suppression of the street file was caused by the policies and practices of the City of Chicago. The Defendants contended that Plaintiff was guilty of the double homicide, and introduced testimony from six witnesses who claimed they had seen Plaintiff commit the murders or that he had later confessed to them. Defendants also emphasized
Plaintiff’s prior conviction and incarceration, his false testimony during those prior proceedings,
and his gang membership in the El Rukn organization.
Damages:
Emotional distress, loss of liberty, and other damages based on Plaintiff’s wrongful conviction
and 18 years of wrongful incarceration, including numerous years facing execution on death row.

Outcome: For the Plaintiff on his Due Process, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress and Monell claims.

The jury awarded twenty-two million in compensatory damages; thirty thousand in punitive damages against David O’Callaghan; and ten thousand in punitive damages against Joseph Murphy. Total damages awarded of twenty-two million and forty thousand ($22,040,000.00).

Plaintiff's Experts:

Michael Brasfield

Defendant's Experts:

Jeffrey Noble

Police Practices

Judith Roberts

statistics and data analysis

Comments: