Sharell Brown News Today

Rochester, N.Y. A parolee is heading to prison after being found guilty of murder and other charges for a fatal shooting that happened during a robbery on the c

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.

After a spirited debate, a divided City Council agreed Wednesday to spend $1 million to compensate the family of an armed, 26-year-old man shot and killed by police in 2019.

The Chicago shooting took place in 2019, and City Council members decided to settle with the family of Sharell Brown for $1 million.

“The sin of the police officer was he turned the body camera off a little too soon. ... We should not be paying this family a million dollars,” said Ald. Nick Sposato. But Ald. Chris Taliaferro disagreed: “Either we trust our lawyers or we don’t.”

Brown had testiifed that Chicago police beat him into falsely confessing to starting a fire in a video store that killed two people.

A City Council committee advanced a $7.25 million settlement Wednesday for a man who served nearly 30 years in prison for a double murder conviction that was ultimately overturned. The award was the largest out of almost $10 million in total settlements the Finance Committee sent to the full Council, which will vote on them next week. Aldermen in committee in a unanimous voice vote approved ...

Arthur Brown spent 29 years in prison after being convicted of killing two people by setting fire to a South Side store in 1988. He was released in 2017 after a judge overturned his conviction, prompting Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to drop the charges against him.

In January, opposition from police union allies on the City Council allies forced then-Finance Committee Chair Scott Waguespack to yank the $1 million settlement to the mother of Sharrell Brown off the agenda. But Wednesday, it passed with little or no debate.

Sharell Brown, 26, was shot and killed during a confrontation with police officers who stopped him in Lawndale. Brown was shot four times in the head and twice in his right arm, according to the investigation of the incident by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA.