Last lawsuit in wrongful Paris convictions settled
URBANA — A federal judge signed off on a $3.5 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by one of two men wrongfully convicted of killing newlyweds in eastern Illinois in the 1980s.
The settlement OK’d by U.S. District Judge Harold Baker last week ended the last of the lawsuits filed by Randy Steidl and Herb Whitlock over the convictions.
The most recent settlement with the city of Paris, two police officers, Edgar County and a prosecutor awards Steidl a total of $3.5 million.
Whitlock settled his case earlier for an undisclosed sum.
The two men were convicted of the 1986 murders of Dyke and Karen Rhoads.
Steidl spent 17 years in prison, including 12 on death row and was released in 2004. A judge released Whitlock in 2008.
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