CLEVELAND — After spending 35 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit, attorneys for Dwayne Brooks filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Cleveland and a list of former police officers who worked on his case, alleging detectives "used unconstitutional tactics to conduct a biased investigation."
"Over a course of litigation on many of these cases, we've determined, uncovered really, very powerful evidence that this homicide unit was repeatedly zeroing in on innocent people to close cases," said attorney Sarah Gelsomino.
Brooks was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the 1987 shooting that killed Clinton Arnold and wounded two other men in Cleveland's Luke Easter Park.
Brooks denied any involvement in the attack and said he was in New York at the time.
In April 2023, a Cuyahoga County judge threw out Brooks's conviction after finding that prosecutors had failed to turn over police reports to defense attorneys, which could have changed the outcome of the 1988 trial.
Later that month, Brooks walked out of jail for the first time in nearly 35 years.
In September 2023, prosecutors dismissed the charges against Brooks.
"It's been beautiful being able to breathe free air," said Brooks, "But the nightmare is still there. It still lurks. It's right there beneath the surface."
Now 58 years old, Brooks said the pain of being taken away from family and loved ones and locked up persists.
"I can't explain to you to where you could understand how it feels to be kidnapped, hunted down, and kidnapped and put in an environment that I had to either survive or become a perpetual victim," said Brooks.
He said there's hurt and anger believing the evidence that would have cleared him existed all along.
Brooks said there's nothing that can give him back the years he spent wrongfully imprisoned or his health, but called the lawsuit "a semblance of justice."
"This has to be felt in these courts and in these political arenas to where they say 'you gotta stop. You gotta quit this. It's costing us too much money," said Brooks. "They don't care; they took my whole life. But maybe they'll care about some money they have to spend."
The lawsuit does not specify the damages Brooks is seeking. However his attorney said she hopes it will "easily" be tens of millions of dollars.
"At 21 years old if you offered me whatever the amount is that could come up with in your head to do 35 years in prison, the answer would have been no," said Brooks. "I want to live my life."
A spokesperson for the City of Cleveland declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying, "We respect the legal process and will refrain from comment until the matter is resolved."
