Harold Hill

Go to Database Search Page

Go to Database Index Page

Charge:	"Murder, Rape and Kidnapping"
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment without possibility of parole
Years Imprisoned:	12.83
Year Crime:	1990
Year Convicted:	1994
Year Cleared:	2005
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Illinois
County or Region of Crime:	Cook
City of Crime:	Chicago
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Harold HIll was a co-defendant of Dan Young. Both men were wrongly convicted in 1994 of the rape and murder of 39-year-old Kathy Morgan, whose body was found in an abandoned building on Chicago's South Side on October 14, 1990. The men were convicted on the basis of Hill and Young's false confessions in March 1992 implicating each other, and the false testimony by a prosecution forensic expert that he made the bite mark found on the woman's breast. Hill and Young were first implicated in the crime when a third man, Peter Williams confessed to the crime after being intensely interrogated, however the police soon learned that he had been in jail at the time of the murder. In 2004 DNA tests not available at the time of their trial of hairs found at the murder scene and cellular material found under Morgan's fingernails excluded the men as her assailant. The charges were dismissed on January 31, 2005. Hill was not immediately released because he had three years left on an unrelated robbery conviction. Hill filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Chicago, the Chicago PD and several officers. On October 4, 2011, the Chicago City Council Finance Committee voted to approve a settlement of $1.25 million. $500,000 of the money was to go to Hill and $750,000 to his attorneys."
Conviction Caused By:	Convicted on the basis of false confessions and questionable forensics.
Innocence Proved By:	DNA testing excluded the two co-defendants as the woman's assailant.
Defendant Aided By:	Attorney Kathleen Zellner
Compensation Awarded:	"$1.25 million (City of Chicago, October 4, 2011)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	18
Age When Released:	31
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"12 Years Behind Bars, Now Justice At Last, Steve Mills and Jeff Coen, Chicago Tribune, February 1, 2005"
Information Location 1:	"http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-0502010297feb01,1,5426654.story"
Information Source 2:	"DNA Tests Exonerate 2 in 1990 Killing, Chicago Sun-Times, February 1, 2005, p. A3"
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"City proposes $1.25M deal in wrongful murder conviction, By John Byrne (staff writer), Chicago Tribune, October 5, 2011"
Information Location 3:	http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-05/news/ct-met-wrongful-convictions-settlement-20111005_1_wrongful-murder-conviction-dna-tests-dna-evidence
Information Source 4:
Information Location 4:
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
Book About Case:
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):
Book Information (2):
Movie About Case:
Comments About Case:

Go to Database Search Page

Go to Database Index Page

Harold Hill

Charge:

"Murder, Rape and Kidnapping"

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment without possibility of parole

Years Imprisoned:

12.83

Year Crime:

1990

Year Convicted:

1994

Year Cleared:

2005

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Illinois

County or Region of Crime:

Cook

City of Crime:

Chicago

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Convicted on the basis of false confessions and questionable forensics.

Innocence Proved By:

DNA testing excluded the two co-defendants as the woman's assailant.

Defendant Aided By:

Attorney Kathleen Zellner

Compensation Awarded:

"$1.25 million (City of Chicago, October 4, 2011)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

18

Age When Released:

31

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"12 Years Behind Bars, Now Justice At Last, Steve Mills and Jeff Coen, Chicago Tribune, February 1, 2005"

Information Location 1:

"http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-0502010297feb01,1,5426654.story"

Information Source 2:

"DNA Tests Exonerate 2 in 1990 Killing, Chicago Sun-Times, February 1, 2005, p. A3"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"City proposes $1.25M deal in wrongful murder conviction, By John Byrne (staff writer), Chicago Tribune, October 5, 2011"

Information Location 3:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-05/news/ct-met-wrongful-convictions-settlement-20111005_1_wrongful-murder-conviction-dna-tests-dna-evidence

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: