Politics & Government

Woodridge Man Wrongly Imprisoned for Rape Settles in Suit with Village for $5M

Woodridge officials said they deem the settlement and the identification of the true offender "as the best possible outcome."

The man who was arrested, convicted, imprisoned and eventually cleared of a 1987 rape at a Woodridge apartment complex has been awarded a $5 million settlement, according to village officials.

In 2008, Marcus Lyons filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the village and police investigators, claiming police targeted him, the only black resident at the complex, because the victim described a black assailant—despite noted physical differences between the two.

Lyons took a polygraph test and gave blood and saliva samples, but the case against him was driven by fabricated evidence and a flawed line-up manufactured to have the victim identify Lyons, the suit stated.

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Lyons spent at least $10,000 of his own money to petition for DNA testing on evidence from his trial. Finally, in 2007, the DuPage County crime lab confirmed his DNA did not match a sample taken from the victim's bra and the twenty-year-old charges were dropped.

Woodridge officials said in a press release they are pleased a settlement has been reached.

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“The ability for Mr. Lyons to clear his name, the identification of the crime’s true offender and this settlement bring about what the village views as the best possible outcome,” the statement said.

Officials said they “continue to stand behind the work done by the on this case.”

“(We) only wish the DNA technology that eventually cleared Mr. Lyons was available at the time of the incident,” they said in the release. “That said, we can all agree that settlement of this case will help everyone involved move forward from this unfortunate case.”

The settlement will be paid through the Intergovernmental Risk Management Agency, the insurance pool of which Woodridge is a member, officials said.


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