Northwestern, Professor Sued for Wrongful Prosecution

Northwestern University and a former professor have been named in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Chicago in connection with “railroading” a man wrongfully convicted of a double murder.

Alstory Simon, who was freed last year after serving 15 years in prison for the double murder of Jerry Hillard and Marilyn Green, is suing for wrongful prosecution.

The lawsuit called the 64-year-old Simon’s longtime incarceration a “horrific injustice,” the Chicago Sun-Times reports. It seeks a total of $40 million in compensatory damages.

Named in the lawsuit is David Protess, the journalism professor who led his students 15 years ago in getting Death Row inmate Anthony Porter’s conviction in the same case overturned.

But in releasing Simon last October, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said the Northwestern students used “alarming tactics” in railroading Simon.

Read more via the Chicago Sun-Times