Attorney: Pardoned Chicago man reaches $7.5M settlement

By RICK CALLAHAN
Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A Chicago man who was pardoned after spending more than seven years in prison for an armed robbery he didn’t commit has reached a $7.5 million settlement with a northern Indiana city and former police officers. Keith Cooper’s attorney said Wednesday that it’s the largest wrongful conviction settlement in Indiana history. An Elkhart city spokeswoman says the city hopes it “brings to a conclusion the obvious injustice that has been rendered to Mr. Cooper.” 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.