Photo: Getty Images
Two Black men wrongly convicted of murder have been awarded $120 million, per CBS News.
John Fulton and Anthony Mitchell were teenagers when they were arrested in connection to the 2003 murder of 18-year-old Christopher Collazo. The pair said they were pressured by detectives to falsely confess to the murder after they made promises of leniency and physically and psychologically abused them.
Fulton and Mitchell spent over 16 years in prison before having their convictions overturned in 2019. Prosecutors also dropped all the charges against them.
The two wrongly convicted men sued the city of Chicago, saying there was no physical evidence or eyewitnesses that connected them to Collazo's killing. On the night of the murder, Fulton was at the hospital with his fiancée and at home, where security cameras monitor the doorways, according to their lawsuit.
Earlier this month, a federal jury awarded them $60 million each in damages for their wrongful convictions.
"We got a lot of work to do. There are a lot of people that are just like me that are wrongfully incarcerated in the justice system, and they need to be brought home, too," Fulton said in a statement.
According to a spokesperson from Chicago's Law Department, the city plans to appeal the jury's verdict.
The Black Information Network is your source for Black News! Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HERE to tune in live.