Johnnie Lee Savory, pardoned for murder, sues Peoria for 'malicious prosecution'
PEORIA - A man who was charged and then convicted of killing two teenagers 40 years ago was the victim of a "malicious prosecution," his attorneys said Wednesday.
Johnnie Lee Savory was the victim of an incompetent police investigation which began with an illegal confession and then "tunnel vision," said Steven Art, one of Savory's attorneys.
"Do I think they set out to frame him? No, but they got an involuntary confession, tunnel vision began to set in and they excluded evidence that could have shown he was innocent," Art said.
The 31-page, nine-count suit, filed Wednesday morning in Chicago's federal court, seeks unspecified damages but the intent is clear - the 54-year-old Savory wants to be compensated for 30 years spent in custody that began when he was 14 years old.
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