Chicago City Wire

Exonerated murderer Nevest Coleman has backtracked on some of his claims against Chicago detectives in his wrongful conviction suit in federal court, a move one legal analyst called “very good” for Chicago police who have been named in dozens of questionable wrongful conviction suits over the past 10 years.

“I am only guessing as usually they beat the dead horse until court gives in, so they conceded this after it must have been made crystal clear that continued arguments would be seen as in bad faith,” the legal analyst, who asked not to be identified, said.

In his civil case filed in 2018, Coleman claimed that his confession in the murder of 20-year-old Antwinica Bridgeman on the South Side was false because it was coerced by police officers, including retired Detectives Kenneth Boudreau and Jack Halloran. Coleman also claimed that evidence in the case was fabricated. Assistant State’s Attorney Harold Garfinkel also was named in the original lawsuit.

But a Jan. 27 filing before District Judge Martha Pacold in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Coleman’s lawyers Loevy & Loevy withdrew "opposition to certain of Defendants’ arguments in their motions for summary judgment [ruling before trial].”

“This will not result in dismissal of any defendants, but will narrow some of the claims against them,” the lawyers wrote.

The withdrawal centers around the plaintiff’s earlier Brady claims – the Brady rule requires prosecutors to turn over all exculpatory evidence to the defense.

Claims of Brady violations run through dozens of other wrongful conviction cases against police and prosecutors.

Coleman's lawyers say that the allegations of a coerced confession and fabricated evidence stand.

In 1997, Coleman and Darryl Fulton confessed to the murder of Bridgeman, whose mutilated body was found in the basement of a home where members of Coleman’s family lived. In 2017, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx vacated their convictions on claims by the two of police misconduct, and the lack of Coleman's and Fulton’s DNA at the murder scene. 

In July, the national watchdog group, Judicial Watch, asked Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling to reopen the case. 

"More advanced DNA tests on samples not available at the time of the murder from Bridgeman's undergarments revealed semen from another individual, a serial rapist,” JW wrote. “These tests became the basis for claiming the men had been coerced into confessing by Chicago detectives, who dismissed the tests as conclusive evidence of innocence and maintained that numerous possibilities could account for the DNA sample that did not vindicate the men.”

Moreover, JW wrote that prosecutors under Foxx “were shocked at the decision to vacate the convictions.”

"Another factor in the case is tied to statements top prosecutors working under Foxx made during depositions,” JW stated. “In those depositions, these prosecutors stated they believed Coleman and Fulton were guilty of the crimes and that detectives in the case committed no misconduct.”

JW also cites statements from prosecutors saying pressure from the media, particularly the Chicago Tribune, led to the exonerations.

"'I think Eric Zorn [Tribune reporter] didn't have any understanding of the facts of that case and did not have a basis to be writing the things that he wrote,” one prosecutor stated during a deposition. 

JW never received a response to their letter and the CPD never responded to a Chicago City Wire request as to whether the Department is considering reopening the case.