A deadly arson in 1988 sets 2 men on divergent paths through the tangled Cook County justice system
It was after dark by the time Arthur Brown, skinny and shellshocked, walked out of Cook County Jail. A crowd of supporters was waiting. “That’s him! That’s him!” they screamed. “He’s free!” It was November 2017. Prosecutors had thrown out his case. For the 29 years leading to that exact moment, Brown had been locked up for a fatal fire he insisted he did not set. He walked out to a scrum of ...