Reginald Harrison

In March 1994, 18-year-old Reginald Henderson and 17-year-old Sean Tyler were falsely accused of killing 10-year-old Rodney Collins in Chicago. Both were subjected to brutal interrogations by detectives working under Jon Burge, including beatings, sleep deprivation, and threats, until they gave false confessions. Other witnesses were coerced or intimidated, and physical abuse went undocumented in court.

Despite alibi testimony and evidence that key witnesses were unreliable, Henderson and Tyler were convicted—Henderson receiving 55 years and Tyler 50 years in prison. Over the next two decades, their attorneys documented a long history of systemic torture and misconduct by Burge’s detectives, including coerced confessions and fabricated evidence.

After years of post-conviction petitions and new evidence, Tyler was released on parole in 2019 and Henderson in 2020. On September 17, 2021, the Cook County State’s Attorney dismissed their convictions. In 2024, both men were awarded certificates of innocence and later filed a federal civil rights lawsuit seeking compensation for their wrongful imprisonment.