Cleveland agrees to pay $1.3 million to two men wrongfully convicted of murder
Background
A Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court jury convicted Thomas Siller and Walter Zimmer in the beating death of Lucy Zolkowski, 74. She remained in a coma for two years and died in 1999. Both men denied any involvement in the attack.
Approach & Resolution
In a federal lawsuit after Zimmer and Siller were released from prison, the two men accused a City crime lab worker of fabricating evidence against them. In addition, they said the city failed to properly train and supervise the lab worker and accused the worker of violating the men’s due process rights under the U.S. Constitution.
The city paid $1.3 million to the two men who spent 13 years in prison because of the wrongful conviction.