Thursday, November 1, 2012
Two black men who served 25 years in prison in the 1977 killing of a retired, white Iowa police captain are aiming to prove they were framed by detectives in the high-profile case.
Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee were convicted in 1978 in the slaying of John Schweer in Council Bluffs. They were freed in 2003 when the Iowa Supreme Court found that prosecutors had committed misconduct.
Opening statements are scheduled Thursday in Des Moines in the men's civil rights lawsuit that could result in a multimillion-dollar verdict.
The men, both from Omaha, Neb., aim to prove that detectives were under so much pressure that they threatened young car theft suspects to implicate Harrington and McGhee in the killing. The two men say race also played a part.
