Defense attorney Debi Cornwall, a partner in the New York firm of Neufeld Sheck & Brustin, called it “one of the worst cases of systemic police misconduct I’ve seen in the entire country.” As reported in the Courier-Journal (here) Edwin Chandler, who served nine years in prison for a murder he did’t commit, has reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit in which Louisville metro government will pay him $8.5 million.
According to the report, “The settlement was reached after federal court-ordered mediation and covers metro government and two police officers who were defendants.”
In the lawsuit, Chandler alleged that officers coerced a false confession from him, pressured witness statements, concealed and destroyed evidence of his innocence, and covered up repeated misconduct.
The Kentucky Innocence Project began work on the case in 2004 after Chandler had been paroled. Percy Phillips, a man with a long criminal record, was charged with the murder after Chandler was exonerated and cleared of any connection to the crime.
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