Keith Cooper reaches $7.5 million settlement with Elkhart Indiana over wrongful conviction

Chicago — Keith Cooper was laughing, giggling even, and his wife had no idea why.

Nicky Cooper had just returned home from her job at a pizzeria. Her adult children were visiting. As they joked and argued in the kitchen over who makes the best macaroni and cheese, Keith walked over with a big smile on his face.

"What are you laughing at?" Nicky asked him.

"I'm just overwhelmed. I'm a new man. I just gotta get a grip on it," Keith told her. "I'm free … I can be things. I can go places."

Keith Cooper had been waiting to surprise his family with some big news. He handed them an agreement revealing he will receive $7.5 million as part of a settlement with the city of Elkhart, Indiana, over his wrongful conviction for robbery in 1997 — a travesty of justice that sent the innocent man to prison for more than eight years.

The settlement announced Wednesday by Cooper's attorneys is the largest in Indiana history for a wrongful conviction. And it marks the end of a years-long legal odyssey for Cooper, a Chicago man who moved his family to Indiana more than 20 years ago for a better life, only to find himself framed and locked behind bars.

"I'm glad it put a smile on his face and it made him giggle," Nicky said as she recalled their conversation earlier this week.

Keith Cooper: A man imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit

City expresses 'regret'

In a statement acknowledging Cooper's wrongful incarceration, the city of Elkhart said it has "set upon a path of accountability" to make sure such injustice will never happen again.

"On behalf of the entire City of Elkhart to Mr. Cooper and his family, we regret the suffering you have experienced. We are hopeful that this settlement will bring Mr. Cooper closure and peace to move forward with his life," the city said.

The statement was a significant change in tone for Elkhart officials.

In 2016, the Elkhart County prosecutor's office doubled down on Cooper's conviction.

"Cooper is certainly free to proclaim his innocence. However, to date, there has been no judicial determination that he is 'innocent' or 'exonerated' regarding his 1997 conviction," Curtis Hill, county prosecutor at that time, said in a statement. Hill would later be elected Indiana's Attorney General.

Elliot Slosar, Cooper's attorney, said they appreciate the kind words from the city, but suggested officials should go a step further by appointing a special prosecutor to investigate all the cases involving the detectives in Cooper's case.

'This whole ride is finally over'

Cooper, who had no prior convictions, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for a 1997 armed robbery. The case was built on unreliable and false evidence: eyewitness accounts that were later recanted and a jailhouse informant's testimony that was fabricated, according to court records.

An Elkhart County judge offered Cooper a sentence modification deal in 2006 after new evidence of his innocence surfaced. Cooper was released after 8 1/2 years, but under the deal his bogus felony conviction remained intact.

A long-awaited gubernatorial pardon granted by Gov. Eric Holcomb finally expunged that record in 2017. It was the first given in Indiana to someone who did not commit the underlying crime. Cooper had previously sought a pardon from then-Gov. Mike Pence, who left Indiana to become former President Donald Trump's running mate without taking any action on Cooper's request.

Cooper filed a lawsuit that same year, accusing four former police officers of fabricating evidence to frame him and the city of Elkhart for enabling the alleged misconduct. The settlement comes after a lengthy litigation slowed by the pandemic.

"Mr. Cooper’s wrongful conviction did not happen by accident nor was it an aberration. Through this case, he has paved the way for other wrongfully convicted people from Elkhart to get a fair chance at justice. In the process, Mr. Cooper has received historic compensation for each moment of his wrongful incarceration," Slosar said.

More: Gov. Holcomb pardons Keith Cooper

"This whole ride is finally over," said Cooper, who now lives in a Chicago suburb. "The way I feel today was how I felt the day I found out Holcomb had pardoned me."

Records show long history of misconduct

Cooper sued Ed Windbigler, the former Elkhart police chief, along with former Elkhart police officers Steve Rezutko, Steve Ambrose and Tom Cutler.

Rezutko, the lead detective on the case, committed suicide in 2019, shortly after the city disclosed records showing the former detective resigned from the department following an internal investigation into improper contact with female informants.

Records show that in 1996 — months before Cooper was arrested — Rezutko was accused of inappropriate relationships with women who were also his informants. Rezutko was suspended for three days without pay.

From prisoner to advocate: Wrongly convicted Keith Cooper has become an advocate for people like him

Additional allegations led to an internal investigation in 2001 and Rezutko left the department. Around the same time, colleagues at the police department, including Cutler, Rezutko's supervisor at that time, wrote recommendation letters for the embattled detective to work for other law enforcement agencies.

Had the police department taken a more aggressive action against Rezutko in 1996, Slosar said, Cooper would not have been wrongfully arrested. And the city wouldn't have had to pay a massive settlement.

'A better tomorrow'

Cooper, whose case gained widespread attention after IndyStar chronicled his story in 2015, has since become an advocate for people like him. His story fueled the creation of the University of Notre Dame's Exoneration Justice Clinic, a de facto law firm that opened last fall and works to reverse wrongful conviction cases.

In 2019, Holcomb signed a law that would compensate those who were wrongfully convicted $50,000 for every year they spent in prison. Cooper opted to not apply for compensation because doing so would have required him to drop his lawsuit against Elkhart.

Slosar, Cooper's attorney, said the settlement is the largest in Indiana for a wrongful conviction.

Cooper's co-defendant, Christopher Parish, received a nearly $5 million settlement with the city in 2014.

David Camm — a former Indiana State Police trooper who was convicted twice at trial for murdering his wife and two children but acquitted by a third jury — has been paid $4.6 million by the state of Indiana, his attorneys announced last month.

Cooper said he plans to take his first big vacation: a trip to Disney World with all 15 of his grandchildren. He also plans to buy an RV and spend a month on the road in Canada, his two dogs in tow.

"There's no amount of money that will bring me back the time I've lost," Cooper said. "But it helps build a better tomorrow for me and my family."

Call IndyStar reporter Kristine Phillips at (317) 444-3026. Follow her on Twitter: @bykristinep.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Keith Cooper, Elkhart reaches $7.5 settlement in wrongful conviction