Judge announces settlement in Ryan Harris case lawsuit

September 19, 2005 (WLS) -- A $6.2 million settlement was reached Monday in a lawsuit filed by the family of a boy once accused of killing 11-year-old Ryan Harris. The girl's body was found back in 1998. The lawsuit claimed wrongful arrest. The boy was 8 years old when he was taken into custody.

The boy is now 15 years old. The settlement was announced Monday afternoon after eight weeks of testimony.

Both sides were preparing for closing arguments when word arrived at the courtroom that City Hall had settled the case. Over seven years after the arrests of what were described then as "the youngest murder suspects in history," the City of Chicago has agreed to pay up and end one of the most embarrassing episodes in police department history.

At 12:40 Monday afternoon Judge Randye Kogan told the jury their services were no longer needed. Against the advice of one of the child's lawyers, the 15-year-old plaintiff's mother and father decided to take the $6.2 million offered by the city.

The plaintiff's mother said she was glad it's over.

"If my daughter is satisfied, I'm satisfied because that is her son," said Rosetta Crawford, plaintiff's grandmother.

"I advised them against it because I don't think it really represents adequately what transpired in this case. This boy was framed for a murder," said R. Eugene Pincham, plaintiff's attorney.

"We don't want this to happen again. Something needs to be done about the way the police handle and mishandle children while they're in their custody," said Andre Grant, plaintiff's attorney.

In 1998, two detectives claimed the then-8-year-old boy and a 7-year-old friend confessed to the murder of 11-year-old Ryan Harris. Weeks later, an adult sex offender was arrested after semen was found on the girl's panties.

The city settled the 7-year-old's lawsuit for $2 million and paid the private law firm of former corporation counsel and mayoral friend Brian Crowe an estimated $3 million to wage a six-year legal battle against the other boy's claim.

"I think it's well spent money on their case, and I have a law firm with some very, very talented lawyers, and just the fact that I was the corporation counsel, the fact that I know municipal law, I don't think should penalize me or my firm," said Brian Crowe, attorney for city.

"Lawyers should have the right to come in. I don't think it should be political patronage," Pincham said.

Including the selection process, jurors spent eight weeks on the case. When it suddenly ended Monday, they appeared divided on a central issue: whether detectives had probable cause to suspect the boys committed the murder.

Juror Edward Alaniz said he was leaning toward the city.

"Because of the evidence," said Edward Alaniz, juror.

"I did not feel the city had justification to arrest the 8 year old," said Roseann Gussey, juror.

How the city will pay out the settlement still has not been structured. We are told the money likely will be placed in a trust overseen by the courts to insure that it is always used for the boy's benefit.

The city law department issued a statement Monday afternoon claiming that throughout the case, it had engaged in good faith negotiations. Still, the final price tag on these wrongful arrests seven years ago comes to over $11 million.

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