Willie Rainge

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Charge:	Murder and Rape
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	18
Year Crime:	1978
Year Convicted:	1979
Year Cleared:	1996
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Illinois
County or Region of Crime:	Cook
City of Crime:	Ford Heights
Result:	Judicially Exonerated and Later Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Willie Rainge was one of the Ford Heights Four. Cleared after 14 year effort that included David Protess' journalism class at Northwestern University. Police were given the identity of the killers 5 days after the murders, but concealed that information from the FHF who split settlements totaling $36 million."
Conviction Caused By:	"False informant, official misconduct and eyewitness error"
Innocence Proved By:	Post-conviction DNA testing.
Defendant Aided By:	Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions and Innocence Project NY
Compensation Awarded:	"$7,440,000 total. $7,300,000 (Cook County, 1999) and $140,000 (State of Illinois, 1997)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	20
Age When Released:	38
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	""Ford Heights 4 Offered Huge Settlement," Robert Becker (staff writer), Chicago Tribune, March 5, 1999."
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Information Location 3:	http://www.mayerbrown.com/retrospective/Pages/jimerson/jimersoncopy.html
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Information Location 4:	http://www.truthinjustice.org/offer.htm
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Book About Case:	""A Promise of Justice: The eighteen-year fight to save four innocent men," David Protess and Rob Warden, Hyperion, 1998"
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Book About Case (2):
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Willie Rainge

Charge:

Murder and Rape

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

18

Year Crime:

1978

Year Convicted:

1979

Year Cleared:

1996

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Illinois

County or Region of Crime:

Cook

City of Crime:

Ford Heights

Result:

Judicially Exonerated and Later Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"False informant, official misconduct and eyewitness error"

Innocence Proved By:

Post-conviction DNA testing.

Defendant Aided By:

Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions and Innocence Project NY

Compensation Awarded:

"$7,440,000 total. $7,300,000 (Cook County, 1999) and $140,000 (State of Illinois, 1997)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

20

Age When Released:

38

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

""Ford Heights 4 Offered Huge Settlement," Robert Becker (staff writer), Chicago Tribune, March 5, 1999."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

Information Location 3:

http://www.mayerbrown.com/retrospective/Pages/jimerson/jimersoncopy.html

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

http://www.truthinjustice.org/offer.htm

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

""A Promise of Justice: The eighteen-year fight to save four innocent men," David Protess and Rob Warden, Hyperion, 1998"

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: