In Illinois’s largest-ever settlement for alleged police misconduct, Loevy & Loevy attorneys Jon Loevy, Russell Ainsworth, and Tara Thompson were part of a team that won $40 million for the “Dixmoor 5,” five African American men who served a combined 79 years in prison for a crime they did not commit.
Illinois’s largest individual award for police misconduct in recent years — $25 million to Thaddeus Jimenez – was also won by Jon Loevy in a federal jury trial in 2012. Loevy was also the lead attorney for the largest individual away in Illinois history, a $28 million jury verdict for Joseph Regalado in 1999.
All of the “Dixmoor 5” were minors when they arrested by police in Dixmoor, IL, a south suburb of Chicago.
A central tenet of the suits against Dixmoor 5 and the Illinois State Police was that officers and prosecutors coerced some of the teenage defendants into falsely confessing through physical abuse and verbal threats.
As the Innocence Project reports, “data from the National Registry of Exonerations shows that in the last 25 years, 38% of exonerations for crimes allegedly committed by youth under 18 years of age involved false confessions, compared with 11% for adults.”
The Dixmoor 5 would probably never have had a chance at exoneration, let alone the record settlement, had it not been for the efforts of Attorney Tara Thompson, who shares time with the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago. As Russell Ainsworth tells it,
For an entire year, she led EP students on a mission to obtain the evidence in their collective cases that would eventually free them. Repeatedly, Dixmoor stated that the evidence in the case was lost, missing, or could not be found.
Most people would have given up at some point… But lawyers and students convinced Judge Simmons to order Dixmoor to allow an inspection of their evidence vault.
Miraculously, Dixmoor suddenly ‘found’ the evidence; testing on that evidence excluded the Dixmoor 5 and incriminated the real perpetrator.
This testing led the way for the Dixmoor Five’s releases, their convictions being overturned, and ultimately the civil suit that led to this settlement.
While the State of Illinois has settled with the Dixmoor 5, negotiations for a possible settlement are still on-going with the Village of Dixmoor.
Co-counsel for the Dixmoor 5 were Peter Neufeld and Alexandra Lampert of Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, New York City, Flint Tayor and John Stainthorp of the People’s Law Office in Chicago, Locke Bowman and Alexa Van Brunt of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, Chicago; Jon Erickson and Michael Oppenheimer of Erickson & Oppenheimer, Ltd., Chicago; and Stuart Chanen and Henry Turner of the Valorem Law Group, Chicago.
U know what. …i have really been trying for people to hear what i gotta say,…my son is in jail,..and alot has happen,..do they do,..pro Bono work,
..what is real justice, for the injustice
After the Orlando Massacre On June 12, 2016 at 11:03 pm (Night time) Nassau County Police Department Police Officer name- M. GNOLFO issued Grand Violation 9 Tickets in ONE STRIP-12 feet long at W/B I-495 Exit 40W-39: {Court Dated: July 26, 2016 at Nassau County TVA, 16 Cooper Street, Hempstead, NY 11550}
1st Violation Ticket: F04907POG8 – Inadequate Left Stop Lamp: Absolutely NOT true
2nd Violation Ticket: F04907P1G8 – Inadequate Center Stop Lamp: Absolutely NOT true
3rd Violation Ticket: F04907NRG8 – Disobeyed Traffic Control Device: Absolutely NOT true
4th Violation Ticket: F04907NSG8 – Moved from lane unsafely: Absolutely NOT true
5th Violation Ticket: F04907NTG8 – Moved from lane unsafely: Double charge-Absolutely NOT true
6th Violation Ticket: F04907NVG8 – Drove across hazard marking: Absolutely NOT true
7th Violation Ticket: F04907NWG8 – Drove across hazard marking: Double charge-Absolutely NOT true
8th Violation Ticket: F04907NXG8 – Impeded traffic/stopped in thru traffic: At midnight-no traffic; Absolutely NOT true
9th Violation Ticket: F04907NZG8 – Operating without Insurance: Absolutely NOT true.
When the Officer asked for the documents, he looked at me & my wife in religious dress & NOT of his color, by bending his head, he acted against the law in issuing these All invalid Tickets in racial prejudice, persecution & overt discrimination.
The Honorable Judge of the Nassau County District Court, New York, DISMISSed ALL the above Charges on September 22, 2016.
Under the circumstances, I’ve the right, through a Lawsuit against Nassau County Police Department, to seek compensation for my financial loss, physical & mental sufferings, in consequence of the malpractice & irresponsible acts of the Police Officer belonging to this Dept.
I shall be glad if you could offer any help in this perspective.
Hedayet Bhuiyan, 718-305-1600, Cell: 347-612-2002, email: logimaks@yahoo.com
Well I have been victimized by Dixmoor police I’ve been trying to get help every since they stole my car off of my private property and they won’t give me any information regarding my car I’ve been out of work because of this I’ve missed my cot training which I would’ve been making at least 50,000 a year with benefits I tried to complain to the village on April 18 2019 because the police said they would arrest me for harassment if I keep calling about my car and they wouldn’t allow me they scared my air bnb guest she wanted her money back from the stay and I’m without and the fabricated my charges. They stole my phone as well iPhone 8s plus