Milwaukee moves toward a settlement with a man who was wrongfully convicted at age 16 and served 12 years in prison
A Milwaukee Common Council committee on Monday recommended approving a $225,000 settlement with a man who sued the city over his 2008 homicide conviction that was later thrown out because of how detectives handled his interrogation.
Ladarius Marshall was 16 when he was arrested and charged with fatally shooting Lavare Gould, 19, on North 37th Street on the city's northwest side.
He subsequently was incarcerated for a dozen years and, in a previous notice to the city, sought $12 million — $1 million for each year he was held.
The May 2022 complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin names as defendants the city and four police officers who are now retired, according to the legislation being taken up by the council committee. The named officers are Matthew Goldberg, Timothy Heier, Gust Petropoulos, and Michael Braunreiter.
The complaint states that Marshall was subjected to "aggressive questioning" for hours, prevented from reaching out to a guardian and had his repeated efforts to stop the interrogation ignored. The interrogation violated his constitutional rights, which "led directly to Mr. Marshall’s conviction and approximately twelve years of incarceration," the complaint states.
"Mr. Marshall will never regain the foundational years of his life taken from him as a result of Defendant Officers’ unconstitutional actions, but he brings this suit seeking redress for the loss of liberty and terrible hardship he has endured and continues to suffer as a result of the defendant officers’ misconduct," the complaint states.
The state asked that Marshall's conviction and sentence be vacated, and dismissed the case, after a federal judge in 2020 ruled that detectives had violated his rights and ordered him to be released from prison if prosecutors did not restart the case against him in 90 days, the Journal Sentinel previously reported.
In a letter to the council, City Attorney Tearman Spencer and Deputy City Attorney Jennifer Williams recommended the settlement, which was negotiated by attorneys outside the office.
Law firm Nathan & Kamionski LLP was hired in 2021 for a maximum fee of $100,000 to advise and represent the city regarding the case.
Spencer and Williams said in the letter that the settlement was in the city's best interest.
The settlement is expected to be taken up at the council's June 20 meeting.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee moves toward settlement with wrongfully convicted man
