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A former Chicago Police sergeant whose rape conviction was overturned in 2011 has filed a lawsuit against the woman who accused him. John Herman filed the suit in Cook County Circuit Court Friday, claiming that the woman falsely accused him to get money from the city. The woman had sued the city in federal court and received a $1.5 million dollar legal settlement, the Sun-Times reported at the time of the 2011 Illinois Appellate Court decision that overturned Herman's conviction. According to the suit, Herman had consensual sex with the woman in her apartment on March 9, 2004. She later accused Herman of kidnapping her, driving to her apartment and forcing her to have sex with him at gunpoint, the Sun-Times reported. Herman is claiming that the woman's accusations and the resulting prosecution caused him to lose his job, damaged his reputation and caused him to serve four years in prison. Herman was convicted of rape and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but the Illinois Appellate Court overturned the conviction on October 2, 2011, according to the suit. The three-count suit charges the woman with malicious prosecution, abuse of process and defamation and asks for more than $100,000 in damages.

On a summer day in 1980, 19-year-old Andre Davis stepped off a train 125 miles south of his native Chicago. He expected his visit would last the summer. Little did he know he wouldn't return home for more than 30 years. Andre had just graduated from high school and traveled to the central Illinois town of Rantoul, population 20,000, to learn his father's business. Richard Davis-known as "Crazy Legs" for his brilliant moves on the dance floor-was a disc jockey serving nearby Chanute Air Force Base.

A Chicago man who spent 20 years in prison is freed after a new investigation reveals he had an alibi. Daniel Taylor was in police custody at the time and Saturday night he spoke out. Taylor was 17 years old when he says police coerced him into confessing. Taylor's exoneration is the 90th in Cook County since 1989. He is the 34th known to have been wrongfully convicted based on a unreliable confession.

Original Article01/13/2014By ART GOLAB A man who spent 25 years behind bars for a rape he did not commit is the latest wrongfully convicted ex-prisoner to collect a multimillion settlement from the City of Chicago. The City Council Finance Commi...

Original Article08/28/2013By JORDAN MICHAEL SMITH On a summer day in 1980, 19-year-old Andre Davis stepped off a train 125 miles south of his native Chicago. He expected his visit would last the summer. Little did he know he wouldn't return home...

Original Article11/15/2013TUSCOLA (JG-TC) - A Mattoon woman has been charged with disorderly conduct for reportedly making a false claim to police that she was raped in a rural Douglas County location last month.Kimberly M. Binnion was served wi...

A man who spent 20 years in prison before being cleared of rape and murder charges by DNA evidence has won an initial battle in his bid to hold Lake County police and prosecutors financially responsible. Ruling on motions to dismiss Juan Rivera's lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber let almost every allegation in the suit go forward. The ruling allows Rivera to keep trying to hold prosecutors liable for his ordeal. A successful lawsuit against prosecutors is rare because they enjoy broad legal immunity, experts said. Leinenweber also declined to dismiss a defamation claim, meaning authorities could still be liable for publicly insisting on Rivera's guilt even after DNA indicated he didn't kill 11-year-old Holly Staker in Waukegan in 1992. At issue are quotes from police and a prosecutor reported in the media, including an officer's assertion, reported by The New York Times shortly before Rivera was freed, that he was "guilty as the day is long."

Police say a woman has recanted her claim of being raped by a hitchhiker she picked up in Douglas County on Saturday. The investigation determined the woman's statement couldn't be supported and she then admitted making a false report of the sexual assault, according to a news release from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. The 32-year-old woman originally said she picked up a man who was hitchhiking while she was driving between Arcola and Mattoon Saturday afternoon. According to the sheriff's office, she said she had the man sit in her vehicle's back seat because the front was full packages. Then, she said, he put a rope around her neck and began to strangle her, then ordered her to stop in a location between two grain bins where the attack took place.

Original ArticleIf he was exonerated, then isn't the crime in which he was accused of off his record? If so, why did the police think he was unregistered when he didn't need to in the first place?10/28/2013By Cynthia Dizikes A man who was exoner...