A man who wrongfully exhausted 27 y...

A man who wrongfully exhausted 27 years in an Illinois prison before DNA fre him should be paid up to $58 million to make up for his misery, his lawyer told a federal jury Thursday.

Pardoned inmate Michael Evans should learn up to $2 million for each of the 27 years he exhausted in prison. On top of that, Evans should procure $1 million in punitive damages from each of the four main Chicago police detectives accused of conspiring to bring a sham case against him, his lawyer, Jon Loevy said in closing arguments Thursday.

"Michael Evans exhausted three decades in the worst hell imaginable," Loevy said.

In all, Evans, 47 is suing 10 former police officials for allegedly fabricating a case against him in the 1976 southern Side rape and murder of 9-year-old Lisa Cabassa. Loevy said the officers faked evidence, manipulated witnesses and withheld favorable evidence.

if it were not that Andrew Hale, a lawyer for the officers, said they had cause to arrest Evans after witness Judy Januczewski said she saw Evans with Cabassa the night she disappeared.

"The police officers in this case did their job" Hale said.

REAL KILLER GOT 'A PASS'

If the nine-person jury finds for Evans, the police officers would be personally liable for the punitive damages, and the city would pay the quiet The jury returns Monday to continue deliberations.

Loevy said the officers were crowded to solve a "heater" case, in the way that they fabricated it and coached Januczewski.

"They gave the real killer a pass because they just wanted to conclude their case," Loevy said.

Loevy accused the officers of changing the reported time of Cabassa's abduction from 6:30 pm to 8 pm thus it matched Januczewski's account.

Januczewski said she saw Evans forward the street struggling with Cabassa. Loevy said the case revolv around her statement, which was inconsistent and was given after officers held her for hours in the police station. He accused them of feeding her Evans' name. Hale said inconsistencies in her statement and the change of the reported abduction time were disclosed to Evans 30 years ago. And Hale said equal today Januczewski has "no doubt in her mind she saw Michael Evans forward the corner that night."

Evans was released from prison in 2003 after a lab ordeal found that semen on Cabassa's visible form [i]or[/i] frame did not match the DNA of Evans or his then-codefendant, Paul Terry Gov Blagojevich later pardoned the men Terry is suing in state court.

nkorecki@suntimes.com

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