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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder and Rape |
Sentence: |
80 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
19 |
Year Crime: |
1991 |
Year Convicted: |
1994 |
Year Cleared: |
2011 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Illinois |
County or Region of Crime: |
Cook |
City of Crime: |
Dixmoor |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Robert Taylor, Jonathan Barr, and James Harden were convicted in 1993 of the November 1991 rape and murder of 14-year-old Cateresa Matthews in Dixmoor, Illinois. Cateresa disappeared after leaving her grandmother's home on Nov. 19, 1991, and almost three weeks later she was found dead from a single gunshot to her mouth. Two other teenagers were also convicted by pleading guilty to first-degree murder -- Robert Lee Veal and Shainnie Sharp. The five teenagers went to school with Cateresa, and they were arrested in October 1992 and charged with her rape and murder, even though DNA testing in 1994 of semen recovered from her excluded all five of the youths. The media dubbed them The Dixmoor Five." Two of the youths, Robert Lee Veal and Shainnie Sharp confessed and turned State's evidence in exchange for guilty pleas to reduced charges and sentences of 20 years in prison. (They were both released after serving about 10 years in prison.) Taylor also confessed in a written statement implicating all five in the crime, but he recanted it as coerced. Based primarily on the confessions of Taylor, Veal, Sharp, Taylor, Barr and Harden were convicted in 1995. Barr and Harden are brothers. Taylor and Harden were sentenced to 80 years in prison and Barr to 85 years. In 2010 Veal told lawyers for the three men that he repeatedly denied any involvement in the crime and signed a piece of paper that detectives told him contained his statement, when in fact detectives had typed up a confession for him to sign. Veal said that at the time he had a learning disability and could not read so he didn't know what he was signing. Faced with his signed confession he agreed to falsely testify in exchange for a reduced sentence. DNA testing conducted in October 2011 identified that the semen matched a convicted rapist. On November 3, 2011 the Cook County State's Attorney agreed to drop the charges against Taylor, Barr and Harden, and those charges were dismissed during a court hearing. Taylor was released that afternoon, Harden was released the next day, and Barr was released on November 9, 2011. The three had been imprisoned for 19 years and two weeks from the time of their arrests. Based of the new evidence Veal's conviction was vacated on December 11, 2011, and Sharp's was vacated on January 4, 2012. In October 2012 the 'Dixmoor Five' sued the Village of Dixmoor and the Illinois State Police for violations of their constitutional rights. Four of the co-defendants, with the exception of Sharp, applied for and were granted certificates of innocence by the Cook County Circuit Court, which qualified them to apply for about $200,000 in compensation from the State of Illinois. On June 25, 2014 it was announced the five men settled their lawsuit against the Illinois State Police for $40 million. The five men's federal civil rights lawsuit against the Village of Dixmoor was settled and the case was dismissed on May 14, 2015. Taylor, Barr, and Harden were awarded $208,800 compensation each by the State of Illinois in 2013." |
Conviction Caused By: |
"False confessions by three of the co-defendants that was coerced by detectives and the prosecutors, and testimony by two of those co-defendants who pled guilty." |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On November 3, 2011 the Cook County State's Attorney agreed to drop the charges against Taylor, Barr and Harden, and those charges were dismissed during a court hearing. Taylor was released that afternoon, and Barr and Harden were released the next day. Based of the new evidence Veal's conviction was vacated on December 11, 2011, and Sharp's was vacated on January 4, 2012." |
Defendant Aided By: |
"Barr was represented by the Innocence Project, Harden was represented by the University of Chicago Law School Exoneration Project, Taylor was represented by the Center on Wrongful Convictions as well as private attorney Jennifer Blagg, Veal was represented by Stuart Chanen of the Valorem Law Group and Sharp was represented by Lemuel Stigler and Jerry Peteet. Represented in civil lawsuit by Chicago based law firm of Loevy & Loevy." |
Compensation Awarded: |
"$10,342,133 total. $208,800 (State of Illinois, 2013) and $10,133,333 (Illinois State Police, June 2014) (Estimated)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
Yes |
Age When Imprisoned: |
17 |
Age When Released: |
36 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Convictions vacated in '91 rape, slaying of Dixmoor girl, By Steve Mills and Andrew Grimm (staff writers), Chicago Tribune, November 3, 2011" |
Information Location 1: |
"http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-prosecutors-vacate-convictions-in-91-rape-slaying-of-dixmoor-girl-20111103,0,5567338.story" |
Information Source 2: |
"Convictions of Three Men Overturned in 1991 Rape and Murder, ABC News, November 4, 2011" |
Information Location 2: |
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/11/convictions-of-three-men-overturned-in-1991-rape-and-murder/ |
Information Source 3: |
"Northwestern's Center on Wrongful Convictions helps exonerate three men, By Safiya Merchant (staff), The Daily Northwestern, November 3, 2011" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/campus/northwestern-s-center-on-wrongful-convictions-helps-exonerate-three-men-1.2665345 |
Information Source 4: |
"Last of 5 men wrongfully convicted in 1991 Illinois killing leaves prison after 20 years, AP story, The Republic (Columbus, Indiana), November 10, 2011" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/5c75043c0b4b403aa4bef3813e1ba0f7/IL--Wrongful-Conviction-Inmate/ |
Information Source 5: |
"$40 million settlement between ‘Dixmoor 5’ and Illinois State Police, BY Kim Janssen (Staff Reporter), Chicago Sun-Times, June 25, 2014" |
Information Location 5: |
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/28295068-418/40-million-settlement-reached-between-dixmoor-5-and-illinois-state-police.html#.U72o7X9CwUo |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org