Two Men Win $8 Million for Wrongful Conviction

Two Chicago men who spent more than 12 years in prison for a rape and murder they did not commit will receive $4 million each from the city.

In 1988 Larry Ollins and Omar Sanders were sentenced to life in prison after they and two other men were arrested and charged with the 1986 death of Rush University medical student Lori Roscetti, 23. Rossetti was abducted from Chicago's West Side, then raped and killed.

All four men were eventually exonerated by DNA testing and pardoned by then-Governor George Ryan.

The two other men also received settlements from the city. Calvin Ollins, who is Larry's cousin, received $1.5M, and Marcellius Bradford got a $900K award.

According to Jenny Hoyle, spokeswoman for the city's law department, Sanders and Larry Ollins received larger settlements for two reasons: The amounts were recommended by a federal mediator; and the two were only charged in the case after Bradford and Calvin Ollins implicated them in their confessions to Chicago police. Bradford and Calvin Ollins, who received reduced sentences for agreeing to testify against Larry Ollins, maintain that their confessions were coerced.

"The criminal justice system did finally work," said Alderman Tom Allen, who represented Sanders at his criminal trial. "It was through DNA evidence that these gentlemen finally got their lives back."

Allen had filed a motion during the criminal trial asking for DNA testing. The motion was denied.

In 2004, Eddies Harris and Duane Roach pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Roscetti after DNA tests confirmed their guilt.

Sources: Associated Press, AOL News