Attorney: Pardoned Chicago man reaches $7.5M settlement

By RICK CALLAHAN
Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An attorney for a Chicago man pardoned after spending more than seven years in prison for an armed robbery he didn’t commit says he has reached a $7.5 million settlement with a northern Indiana city and former police officers. Keith Cooper’s attorney, Elliot Slosar, said Wednesday that it’s the largest wrongful conviction settlement in Indiana history. A spokeswoman for the city of Elkhart said city officials would publicly discuss the settlement later Wednesday. Cooper was pardoned in February 2017 by Gov. Eric Holcomb, who said he believed Cooper had been wrongly convicted in a 1996 armed robbery in Elkhart during which a teenager was shot. A judge later expunged Cooper’s conviction.