Chicago taxpayers are poised to pay out $14 million to settle lawsuits filed by two men wrongfully convicted of the 1989 murder of a retired Chicago police sergeant’s wife, as part of the latest round of settlements accusing CPD officers of misconduct.
The City Council Finance Committee on Monday is set to vote on a handful of settlements, including the massive payouts to Kevin Bailey and Corey Batchelor, who spent nearly 45 combined years in prison before they were cleared of the stabbing death of Lula Mae Woods, whose body was found in the garage of her home in June 1989.
Batchelor was sentenced to 30 years in prison, and was released on parole in 2004 after 15 years behind bars. Bailey was sentenced to 80 years in prison, and was released in January 2018, after spending 29 years in prison, when a Cook County judge dismissed their convictions.
