People’s Law Office Files Civil Suit for Wrongfully Convicted Man

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ANDRE DAVIS FILES WRONGFUL CONVICTION LAWSUIT

July 5, 2013

On the eve of the one year anniversary of obtaining his freedom, Andre Davis, who spent more than 31 years in prison for a 1980 rape and murder in Rantoul Illinois that he did not commit, has today filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Champaign, Illinois.

Davis, who received a certificate of innocence from the Champaign County Court on May 8, 2013, was fully exonerated after DNA tests established that two other men committed the crimes. His exoneration was accomplished by the tireless work of attorney Jane Raley and the Northwestern Center on Wrongful Convictions.

The lawsuit charges a federal civil rights and state law conspiracy among the Rantoul Chief of Police, several Rantoul police officers, an Illinois Department of Law Enforcement officer, and a doctor from Burnham City Hospital to maliciously prosecute and wrongfully convict Mr. Davis by fabricating, coercing and suggesting false evidence against him, causing him to spend more than half of his life behind bars. The suit also joins the Village of Rantoul as a defendant for its “deliberately indifferent” policies and practices of fabricating and coercing evidence, of covering up official wrongdoing as part of a pervasive code of silence, and of failing to properly train, supervise and discipline its officers, all of which directly resulted in Mr. Davis’ wrongful conviction and more than three decades of wrongful imprisonment.

Upon filing the suit, Mr. Davis made the following statement:

While I am happy to be free with my innocence established by the Courts, I feel that those who are responsible for robbing me of the best years of my life should be held legally responsible for doing me so terribly wrong. This is my main goal in filing this lawsuit.

According to Flint Taylor, one of Mr. Davis’ lawyers:

Once again, another wrongfully convicted Illinois prisoner must file a lawsuit in order to obtain just compensation for the terrible injustice done to him by law enforcement officers. While Mr. Davis cannot recover his lost freedom by pursuing this lawsuit, he can establish that the Village of Rantoul and the individual named conspirators are responsible for his suffering.

For more information:
Man Sues Over Wrongful Conviction in The News-Gazette

Read the filed complaint here.

To learn more about our work representing those wrongfully incarcerated, visit the Wrongful Convictions page and see some of our past victories here.