United Group Insurance

Jury considers case of 2 men wrongfully convicted

News

December 7th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A jury is now considering whether the city of Council Bluffs and two retired police detectives should pay millions to two Omaha men convicted in a 1977 murder but later released after spending decades in prison. The case went to the jury Friday after 21 days of arguments and testimony in U.S. District Court in Des Moines. Jurors will decide if Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee should be compensated for the 25 years they spent in prison. Both men were sentenced to life for murder but were freed after courts concluded they had been wrongfully convicted.

The men claim retired officers Dan Larsen and Lyle Brown coerced witnesses into lying and hid evidence of another suspect. Harrington is seeking more than $60 million and McGhee more than $50 million.