Peoria Police Sued for Conspiracy and Malicious Prosecution of Innocent Man Imprisoned for 19 Years

PEORIA, IL – Christopher Coleman, who spent 19 years in prison for crimes he did not commit, filed a federal lawsuit today against the City of Peoria and four police officers alleged to have conspired to convict him in total disregard to the truth and his clear innocence.

A year ago, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed Coleman’s 1994 armed robbery and sexual assault conviction and the Peoria County state’s attorney dismissed all charges.  Earlier this month, a Peoria County court declared him innocent.

Police investigating a home invasion by six men wearing face coverings fabricated evidence, including a false claim from a 12-year-old who had no knowledge of the crime but – after repeated threats he would never see his family again – confessed to participating and implicated Coleman and other suspects manufactured by the police without any probable cause, according to the lawsuit.

Police also used “unduly suggestive” procedures that led to a victim selecting Coleman from a police line-up and withheld exculpatory evidence from Coleman.

In addition to the Peoria Police Department, four current or former police officers – Patrick Rabe, Terry Pyatt, Timothy Anderson and Michael Ford – are named as defendants.

“In serving almost two full decades behind bars, (Coleman) was unjustly deprived of much of his adult life to date,” according to the lawsuit.  “He was stripped of the various pleasures of basic human experience, which all free people enjoy as a matter of right.  He missed out on the ability to share holidays, births, funerals, and other life events with loved ones, and the fundamental freedom to live one’s life as an autonomous human being.

“As a result of his wrongful conviction and incarceration, (Coleman) must now attempt to rebuild his life outside of prison, all without the benefit of the life experiences that ordinarily equip adults for that task,” the lawsuit states.

Coleman’s lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois by attorneys from the Chicago-based civil rights law firm of Loevy & Loevy and by the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center and the Bluhm Legal Clinic, both at Northwestern University School of Law.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages for the malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress on Coleman.

A copy of the lawsuit is available here.