Attorney Daniel Lage, left, of Shelton-based Ruane Attorneys At Law, and Marquis Jackson, right, who spent almost 20 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Courtesy photo

The city of New Haven and its police department are facing more litigation with a lawsuit on behalf of a man falsely imprisoned for nearly two decades for a murder he did not commit.

Marquis Jackson's March 13 federal lawsuit comes six months after his friend, Vernon Horn, filed a similar claim. The two men had their murder convictions vacated on the recommendation of New Haven State's Attorney Pat Griffin, who said publicly the state no longer had confidence that the men were responsible for the crimes for which they were convicted.

Horn's lawsuit is pending, and now Jackson has followed with a 46-page complaint. Like the Horn lawsuit, Jackson's paints a picture of New Haven police and a forensic examiner deliberately ignoring evidence that would have cleared him in the 1999 New Haven deli robbery and murder of Caprice Henry.

The lawsuit says that “although no physical or forensic evidence ever connected Marquis to the crime, he was charged and convicted as a result of the defendants' creation and false and misleading evidence and suppression of exculpatory evidence, as part of a pervasive and long-standing custom, policy, pattern, and practice of 'closing high-profile criminal cases at all costs,' in knowing and recklessly indifferent disregard of the constitutional rights of plaintiff and similarly situated persons.”

Jackson's co-counsel, Daniel Lage of Shelton-based Ruane Attorneys At Law, told the Connecticut Law Tribune that in his view, the overall conduct of the New Haven Police “is troubling, very disturbing and extremely irresponsible.”

“We allege there was a pattern of conduct where the ability of someone to do something wrong to close a case was enabled,” Lage said.

One of the major alleged findings in the lawsuit was that now-retired New Haven Police Det. Petisia Adger had 137 pages of exculpatory phone records in her basement for nearly 20 years that could have helped exonerate the two men. Those phone records, the lawsuit said, would have shown the actual killers used a cellphone stolen from the robbery. Reached at her home, Adger was silent when the Connecticut Law Tribune called seeking a comment.

The lawsuit also alleges the New Haven Police Department had a “practice of coercing scripted witness statements in off-the-record pre-interviews,” and said both Jackson and Horn were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Both men were near the shooting after it occurred, the lawsuit says.

None of the named defendants, a forensic examiner and former New Haven Police officials, could be reached. In addition to Adger, one has an unlisted telephone number; one did not return repeated calls; and another is in a rehabilitation facility and was not available. New Haven Corporation Counsel John Rose Jr. also did not return a request for comment Monday.

Lage declined to say how much in compensatory and punitive damages he was seeking from the lawsuit. Because the matter was a non-DNA case, Lage said it could have been hard to sway the New Haven state's attorney to reopen the case. But “To Patrick Griffin's credit, and pursuant to his ethical obligation and based on the evidence developed, he said the conviction should be set aside,” Lage said.

The plaintiffs attorney believes one of the men who took part in the crime made a plea deal with authorities after pointing the finger at Horn and Jackson. That man, Steve Brown, ended up serving 10 years for the murder.

Lage said Jackson, formerly a Connecticut resident, is now trying to get his life back together with family in Georgia, and hopes to open an auto dealership in that state.

“He is not only a client, but we've become good friends,” Lage said. “He reminds me of people I grew up with. He is full of energy and he loves to laugh. He is really a very gentle guy.”

Assisting Lage is New Haven solo practitioner Kenneth Rosenthal.

Judge Jeffrey Meyer is scheduled to hear the Horn and Jackson cases.

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Incarcerated for 17 Years for a Murder He Didn't Commit, Man Sues New Haven, Investigating Officers