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A record state operating budget that a top legislative Republican said “has a little bit of something for everyone” is heading for final votes in the Missouri Legislature as tax revenue continues …

by Marek Mazurek, South Bend Tribune

This article was produced by the South Bend Tribune, a former member of ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.

A man who spent more than eight years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of an armed robbery in Elkhart, Indiana, will receive $7.5 million in a settlement with the city and with former police officers involved in the investigation, his attorney has announced.

The city’s settlement with Keith Cooper is the largest amount paid to a plaintiff in a wrongful conviction lawsuit in Indiana, according to the University of Michigan’s Exoneration Registry, and marks the end of his legal saga, which was chronicled by the South Bend Tribune and ProPublica.

Cooper, now 54, was pardoned in 2017 by Gov. Eric Holcomb.

The record-breaking settlement follows a series of other wrongful conviction proceedings and lawsuits in Elkhart.

Cooper’s co-defendant in the 1996 robbery, Christopher Parish, was exonerated and awarded nearly $5 million in a 2014 settlement. In March, Andrew Royer filed a lawsuit saying police and prosecutors coerced him into a false confession. A handful of other cases against the Elkhart Police Department are pending.

“It’s been a long uphill battle. I’ve been waiting 14 years for this day and now it’s here,” Cooper said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon in Chicago. “There’s no amount of money that can get me back the time I lost. But it helps build a better tomorrow for me and my family.”

Photos of Cooper and his wife. Cooper is the first Indiana man to win a pardon based on actual innocence. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune)

In a separate press conference, Elkhart city spokesperson Corinne Straight read a prepared statement in which the city apologized for its handling of Cooper’s case.

“We hope this settlement brings to a conclusion the obvious injustice that has been rendered to Mr. Cooper,” the statement read in part. “The current administration and current leadership in the Elkhart Police Department have set upon a path of accountability in the hopes that this kind of case will never happen again.

“To Mr. Cooper and his family, we regret the suffering you experienced.”

Elliot Slosar, an attorney who represented Cooper throughout the civil litigation, said he appreciates the city’s apology, but he called on Elkhart’s mayor to bring in a special prosecutor to review every case investigated by the officers named in Cooper’s lawsuit.

(Christian Sheckler, the Tribune reporter who worked with ProPublica’s Ken Armstrong on a series of stories published in 2018 and 2019 about the criminal justice system in Elkhart, began working this year as an investigator for the Notre Dame Law School Exoneration Justice Clinic. Slosar is also affiliated with the clinic.)

The Case

On Oct. 29, 1996, police were called to a housing project in Elkhart where 17-year-old Michael Kershner had been shot and nearly killed. Friends and family of Kershner’s said two Black men — one short and one tall — had forced their way into his apartment, and the tall suspect shot the teenager during a struggle.

Cooper and Parish were charged in the crime after witnesses identified them as the suspects from photo arrays. Cooper was identified as the taller of the suspects and the alleged shooter. Both men were convicted: Cooper in 1997, of robbery, and Parish in 1998, of robbery and attempted murder. Cooper was sentenced to 40 years, Parish to 30.

(Nadia Sussman/ProPublica)

Cooper’s suit claimed that Elkhart police officials, including detective Steve Rezutko, framed the men through false witness statements and unduly suggestive photo lineups.

Eyewitnesses who testified at Cooper’s trial later recanted and said they had been manipulated by Rezutko into implicating Cooper.

Additionally, an investigation done in the years after Cooper’s trial concluded that DNA obtained from the shooter’s hat matched a man who had been convicted of a 2002 murder in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and then sent to prison.

In 2005, a state appeals court threw out Parish’s conviction. Afterward, a judge offered Cooper a choice. The judge could overturn Cooper’s conviction, allowing for a possible retrial, or modify Cooper’s sentence, allowing Cooper to be released immediately. Cooper chose the sentence modification and was freed in April 2006.

Though he was no longer in prison, Cooper was not exonerated of the robbery. So, in 2009, he filed a petition for a pardon. In 2014, the Indiana Parole Board voted unanimously in Cooper’s favor and forwarded its recommendation to then-Gov. Mike Pence. But for nearly three years, Pence allowed the recommendation to sit, taking no action. Pence’s successor, Holcomb, issued the pardon in 2017, one month after taking office.

Cooper is the first Indiana man to win a pardon based on actual innocence.

Through the discovery process in the case, Cooper and his attorneys also learned that Rezutko had been forced to resign from the Elkhart Police Department in 2001 because of sexual misconduct with an informant.

The department did not disclose until January 2019 that the detective had been accused of paying an informant for oral sex.

Rezutko died by suicide a month after those records were disclosed.

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, Eat This, Not That!, a national food news outlet, has decreed one of Missouri’s own as the top place to get a margarita. Mission Taco Joint (multiple locations including 398 N Euclid Avenue, 314-930-2955) snagged a spot on the national list as Missouri’s best margarita, a first for the business' cocktail. “It's the perfect balance of tart and sweet while still very tequila forward,” Tanya Edwards writes for the magazine.

ST. LOUIS - A new show featuring St. Louis is airing on E! Comedian Nikki Glaser, 37, is from St. Louis. She attended Kirkwood High School and now she is back home. The new show "Welcome Home Nikki Glaser?" follows her return to the area and features her family, friends, and ex-boyfriend who moved back [...]

SPRINGFIELD –The Illinois Department of Transportation today announced the release of the new Illinois Official Highway Map. The map includes route updates as well as a new feature that shows mileage between towns and marked route junctions to help residents and visitors alike plan their travels throughout Illinois. “While many of us now use smartphones for directions, paper maps remain an important resource,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. “When your phone dies or you drive out of range, paper maps will show you the way. What’s more, they provide valuable information about our great state to help you make the most of your travels.” The new map’s cover features a beautiful shot of the capitol building in autumn. The photograph was the winner of IDOT’s employee map cover contest, submitted by Andrew Bolinger, an office assistant. For those with a smartphone, QR codes printed on the maps provide easy access to information

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The University of Missouri has announced proposed disciplinary sanctions for 13 students in connection with an alcohol poisoning investigation.

A years-long effort to halt development of a massive electrical transmission line across Missouri gave way early Thursday morning to a compromise bill endorsed by the energy company.  For years, Chicago-based Invenergy has been developing a 4,000 megawatt transmission line, called Grain Belt Express, expected to carry clean energy from southwest Kansas across Missouri and […]

The post Missouri Senate approves eminent domain reform that wouldn’t kill Grain Belt Express appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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The boy found the gun under a mattress.

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SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Transportation is hosting the 31st “Today’s Challenge, Tomorrow’s Reward” conference on May 9 and 10 at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield. The longtime conference hosted by IDOT’s Office of Business and Workforce Diversity provides female- and minority-owned businesses with opportunities to make connections and develop skills to grow and succeed. “Today’s Challenge, Tomorrow’s Reward is one of the premier events in the state for our contracting community to build relationships and open the door to participate on projects,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman.“Thanks to the historic Rebuild Illinois capital program and unprecedented investments happening at the federal level, there has never been a better time to be involved in the transportation industry. Under Gov. Pritzker, IDOT is committed to making its projects more diverse and inclusive. The information at thi

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A 22-year-old man is in police custody after a 3-year-old boy located the adult's firearm and accidentally shot himself with it.

CHICAGO —During National Small Business Week, Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) announced that the full $250 million in relief funds have been granted through the Back to Business (B2B) program. This concludes the program, providing nearly 6,500 grants to small businesses in over 475 cities and more than 90 counties across the state, with 96 percent of awards delivered to businesses in disproportionately impacted communities or in the hardest-hit industries. A list of Illinois B2B grantees can be found here . “Illinois responded to the pandemic by providing $1.5 billion in economic relief for childcare providers, local government services, and so many hard-hit small businesses that shape our communities,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “These are investments that preserve jobs and Main Streets and dreams. When we put our state’s fiscal house in order, we can invest taxpayer dollars in building a stronger

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Dolly Parton may not consider herself a rock 'n' roll great, but now that she's a 2022 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, she says she'll just…

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Statistics don’t have faces.   While statistics about the number of homeless veterans in the United States are staggering, they do not show the people

The post In the Faces of Patriotism: The Homeless Veterans Project appeared first on Explore St. Louis.