$40M settlement reached in suit filed by exonerated men

CHICAGO - Attorneys for five men convicted and later cleared of the 1991 rape and murder of a suburban Chicago girl say they've reached a $40 million settlement with the Illinois State Police.

READ: How the wrongfully convicted are compensated

The men were teenagers when they were arrested in the death of 14-year-old Cateresa Matthews of Dixmoor, who disappeared after leaving her grandmother's home on Nov. 19, 1991. The teen's body was found weeks later in a field. She had been killed by a single gunshot to the mouth, reports CBS Chicago.

Robert Taylor, James Harden and Jonathan Barr were cleared by DNA evidence and freed from prison in 2011 after serving 19 years. Shainne Sharp and Robert Veal were released after 10 years in prison.

The men filed a lawsuit against Dixmoor Police and Illinois State Police officers in 2012.

Attorneys say the settlement reached Wednesday is a "small measure of justice" for the so-called "Dixmoor 5," whom they claim were framed by police and coerced into confessing to the crime.

CBS Chicago reports the DNA evidence in the case implicates a convicted sex offender with no connection to the "Dixmoor 5." That man has not been charged in Cateresa's murder but he is reportedly in prison already on other charges. In May, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart opened a new investigation into Cateresa's rape and murder.

Peter Neufeld, a New York attorney representing Jonathan Barr, one of the wrongfully convicted men, said Wednesday that there is an epidemic of false confessions in Cook County.

"What Cooperstown is to baseball, Chicago and Cook County has been to false confessions," Neufeld said, according to CBS Chicago. "It is not the Hall of Fame, it is the Hall of Shame."

According to Neufeld, there are more false confessions in Cook county than the rest of the nation combined, reports the station. He said it's a problem that's doomed to be repeated unless there's an investigation.

A State Police spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The city of Dixmoor hasn't agreed to settle the case.