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Harold Hill received $1.25 million from the city of Chicago in October 2011 in compensation for the wrongful conviction which kept him in prison for 12 years. Hill had been convicted for a rape and murder of which DNA evidence later cleared him. Hill said that his false confession had been given only after police detectives had beaten him, according to the Chicago Tribune.

What didn’t come to light until April 2012 was that as part of the settlement, Chicago police detectives Kenneth Boudreau and John Halloran would have to pay $7,500 each out of their own pockets. This is extremely unusual, Roderick Drew, spokesman for the city’s law department, told the Tribune. But Hill and his attorneys had insisted on it, Drew said.

“It’s the symbolism that makes it attractive to a plaintiff,” said Hill’s attorney Russell Ainsworth. “To get money from the officer who wronged them means something to some people.”

Neither detective commented to the Tribune; Boudreau cited a confidentiality agreement. Hill remains in prison on an unrelated armed-robbery conviction.

Related articles:

Chicago Tribune: “City proposes $1.25M deal in wrongful murder conviction” (October 2011)

Chicago Tribune: “Rare legal settlements demand officers pay too” (April 2012)