The Cook County Board on Thursday approved a $17 million settlement for a man who was exonerated after serving more than 30 years in prison for the 1982 murders of two Chicago Police officers.
The settlement will get the county out of a federal lawsuit Jackie Wilson filed three years ago alleging that prosecutors and detectives working for disgraced commander Jon Burge framed him for the murders of officers William Fahey and Richard O’Brien.
Jackie Wilson was in a car with his brother, Andrew Wilson, when the officers pulled them over. Andrew Wilson allegedly grabbed Fahey’s gun and shot both officers. Jackie Wilson has maintained he was shocked at what his brother did and has denied being directly involved in the shootings.
Jackie Wilson’s lawyers issued a statement praising the settlement as compensation for the “unimaginable” suffering their client endured during 36 years behind bars. They called on the city of Chicago, which remains a defendant in the lawsuit, to also settle.
“With this settlement, Cook County acknowledges and limits the substantial risk that this litigation poses to county taxpayers while also allowing Jackie to move forward with what remains of his life,” the lawyers said in a statement.
A statement from the county, however, noted that the settlement agreement makes no admission of wrongdoing.
Phil Cline, executive director of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, said in statement that the settlement was “hard to take” for the Fahey and O’Brien families.
“The settlement ... does not erase the actual truth in this case that Jackie and Andrew Wilson are responsible for the murder of two Chicago Police officers,” Cline said. “Jackie Wilson is culpable but, clearly, is no longer held accountable. The fact that Cook County taxpayers must pay this massive settlement is a disgrace.”
In recent wrongful conviction cases, settlements reached by the county have been a fraction of what the city has paid. Adam Gray, who was jailed at age 14 and spent 22 years behind bars before he was exonerated in a fatal arson case, was paid $10 million by the county. A jury in Gray’s lawsuit against the city awarded him $27 million.
The city of Chicago has paid out more than $130 million in lawsuits filed by dozens of men who claim they were victims of abuse at the hands of Burge and his detectives. Wilson and his brother, Andrew Wilson, were among the first to claim they gave confessions after being tortured by police. Their case has also been marked by allegations of misconduct by prosecutors.
Among those named in his suit was Nick Trutenko, the lead prosecutor at Jackie Wilson’s 1989 retrial. When Wilson was tried a third time for the murders, after a successful appeal, Trutenko admitted to a decades-long friendship with a jailhouse informant who was a key witness against Jackie Wilson.
Trutenko was fired just hours after he took the stand at the third trial in 2020 and is facing trial on perjury and official misconduct charges brought by a special prosecutor.
Another assistant state’s attorney, Andrew Horvat, also faces criminal charges for allegedly warning a special prosecutor handling Jackie Wilson’s third trial not to delve into Trutenko’s relationship with British con man William Coleman.
Coleman was a key witness at Wilson’s second trial, testifying that he heard Jackie Wilson admit to a role in the killings while the two were in Cook County Jail.
Trutenko allegedly negotiated sweetheart deals that saw Coleman, jailed on drug charges, released within months of his testimony. The two men remained close friends for decades — facts Trutenko did not reveal to the special prosecutor or defense lawyers until he took the stand the third time Jackie Wilson stood trial.
The special prosecutor dropped the case against Jackie Wilson mid-trial after Trutenko’s testimony, and Wilson in 2021 was awarded a certificate of innocence, considered a formal exoneration.
Trutenko and Horvat went on trial last fall before a Lake County judge after all Cook County judges recused themselves from hearing the case.
The trial has been suspended since November as another special prosecutor appeals a ruling that would block key testimony from lawyers in the state’s attorney’s office.
Terry Ekl, a lawyer for Horvat, said the settlement would have no impact on the criminal case. “This is purely between the state’s attorney and [Jackie Wilson]. We had no involvement,” he said.
Wilson’s brother was twice convicted as the gunman who killed both officers. Andrew Wilson died in prison in 2007.
The brothers were tried together in 1983 and both were found guilty, with Andrew Wilson sentenced to death and Jackie Wilson getting a life sentence.
Andrew Wilson’s case was overturned by the state Supreme Court, which ruled that his confession had come only after he was tortured by Burge and other detectives.
Even with his confession thrown out, Andrew Wilson was convicted at a second trial in 1988 and sentenced to life without parole.
Jackie Wilson also was granted a new trial, with an appeals court ruling that he should have been allowed to stand trial alone. In his second trial, featuring Coleman’s testimony about a jailhouse confession, jurors found him guilty of O’Brien’s murder but acquitted him of Fahey’s murder.
Jackie Wilson was granted a third trial in 2018, following a hearing ordered by the state Torture Inquiry Relief Commission.
