Rodell Sanders

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	80 years
Years Imprisoned:	20
Year Crime:	1993
Year Convicted:	1994
Year Cleared:	2014
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Illinois
County or Region of Crime:	Cook
City of Crime:	Chicago Heights
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Rodell Sanders was wrongly convicted in 1994 of a murder committed in December 1993 in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Sanders' conviction was based on the testimony of a surviving witness and a jailhouse informant who was given reduced charges and a five year sentence for testifying he was one of four men who participated but Sanders committed the shooting. After Sander's conviction by a jury he was sentenced to 80 years in prison. Sanders filed a post-conviction petition requesting a new trial based on ineffective assistance of his trial lawyer for failing to discover prior to trial that the the informant recanted and admitted to police that he was the shooter. Afte the petition was granted on January 14, 2011 by a Cook County Circuit Court judge, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office appealed. However, in 2011 the Illinois Court of Appeals affirmed the judge's ruling. Sanders' retrial in 2013 ended in a mistrial because of a hung jury. Sanders was acquitted by a jury on July 22, 2014 after his third trial. He was released later that day after 20 years in custody. Sanders filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that named the city of Chicago Heights, the police department, and officers involved in his prosecution as defendants. On September 28, 2016 Sanders and the city of Chicago Heights agreed to settle his lawsuit for $15 million."
Conviction Caused By:	Erroneous eyewitness identification by a surviving witness and perjurious testimony by a codefendant/jailhouse informant.
Innocence Proved By:	"Sanders was acquitted on July 22, 2014 by a jury after his third trial. He was released later that day after 20 years in custody."
Defendant Aided By:	Attorneys Russell Ainsworth and Steve Greenberg and the University of Chicago’s Exoneration Project.
Compensation Awarded:	"$15 million (City of Chicago Heights, 9-28-2016)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	29
Age When Released:	49
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"Man freed after acquitted in retrial for a murder for which he spent 20 years in prison, By Steve Schmadeke (Tribune reporter), Chicago Tribune, July 23, 2014"
Information Location 1:	"http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-man-freed-after-acquitted-in-retrial-for-a-murder-for-which-he-spent-20-years-in-prison-20140723,0,903931.story"
Information Source 2:	"Rodell Sanders, The Exoneration Project, Chicago Uiversity"
Information Location 2:	http://www.exonerationproject.org/#!rodell_sanders/c1pj7
Information Source 3:	"Wrongful Conviction Nets $15M, By Lauraann Wood (Law Bulletin Staff Writer), Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, September 29, 2016"
Information Location 3:	http://www.chicagolawbulletin.com/Articles/2016/09/29/15M-wrongful-conviction-9-29-16.aspx?utm_source=public&utm_medium=story&utm_content=15M-wrongful-conviction-9-29-16&utm_campaign=sampler
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Rodell Sanders

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

80 years

Years Imprisoned:

20

Year Crime:

1993

Year Convicted:

1994

Year Cleared:

2014

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Illinois

County or Region of Crime:

Cook

City of Crime:

Chicago Heights

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous eyewitness identification by a surviving witness and perjurious testimony by a codefendant/jailhouse informant.

Innocence Proved By:

"Sanders was acquitted on July 22, 2014 by a jury after his third trial. He was released later that day after 20 years in custody."

Defendant Aided By:

Attorneys Russell Ainsworth and Steve Greenberg and the University of Chicago’s Exoneration Project.

Compensation Awarded:

"$15 million (City of Chicago Heights, 9-28-2016)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

29

Age When Released:

49

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Man freed after acquitted in retrial for a murder for which he spent 20 years in prison, By Steve Schmadeke (Tribune reporter), Chicago Tribune, July 23, 2014"

Information Location 1:

"http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-man-freed-after-acquitted-in-retrial-for-a-murder-for-which-he-spent-20-years-in-prison-20140723,0,903931.story"

Information Source 2:

"Rodell Sanders, The Exoneration Project, Chicago Uiversity"

Information Location 2:

http://www.exonerationproject.org/#!rodell_sanders/c1pj7

Information Source 3:

"Wrongful Conviction Nets $15M, By Lauraann Wood (Law Bulletin Staff Writer), Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, September 29, 2016"

Information Location 3:

http://www.chicagolawbulletin.com/Articles/2016/09/29/15M-wrongful-conviction-9-29-16.aspx?utm_source=public&utm_medium=story&utm_content=15M-wrongful-conviction-9-29-16&utm_campaign=sampler

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