A former Chicago police sergeant who spent nearly four years in prison for a criminal sexual assault conviction before it was overturned by an appellate court won a $4.5 million civil default judgment in his lawsuit against his accuser after she failed to appear in court.
But although John Herman had his conviction overturned in 2011, he dropped his effort to gain a certificate of innocence — or a full exoneration — after prosecutors alleged that he sought to have the woman murdered while he was in prison in 2010.
Herman, 52, was never charged with soliciting the woman’s murder, but prosecutors revealed the allegations and existence of undercover police recordings in a court filing when Herman sought the certificate of innocence in 2015.
Herman withdrew his petition about three months after prosecutors said they intended to put on evidence that he allegedly told a fellow prison inmate he wanted to hire a hitman to locate and kill the woman, who lives in Texas.
Neither Herman nor his attorney could be reached for comment on Friday.
Prosecutors said Herman allegedly gave the inmate a photograph of the woman and also provided him with the name and address of her daughter. In a recorded conversation, Herman allegedly told an undercover cop posing as a hitman that he wanted his business “taken care of, it would take 15,000 to 20,000 miles” prosecutors said — an apparent reference to a cash payment.
In their court filings, prosecutors did not say why they did not pursue charges against Herman, and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office was unable to respond to a Tribune inquiry Friday.
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A little over two months later, Herman won his appeal when a panel of three appellate judges cited inconsistencies in the testimony of the woman, noting she admitted smoking six to eight “rocks” of crack cocaine that night.
Cook County Circuit Judge Joseph Claps, who convicted Herman, called the sergeant’s testimony of consensual sex “nothing short of perjury,” but the appellate judges said that finding was “unsupported by the record.”
The court threw out Herman’s convictions for aggravated criminal sexual assault, official misconduct and kidnapping.
The 20-year police veteran was accused of picking up the woman while he was on duty, driving to her home to retrieve her identification and raping her. DNA evidence tied him to the 2004 sexual assault, but Herman contended the sex was consensual.
The city previously paid the woman $1.5 million to settle her federal lawsuit. Herman sued her in 2015 alleging malicious prosecution, defamation and abuse of process for her involvement in the criminal charges brought against him.
Cook County Circuit Judge Gregory Wojkowski did not rule on the facts of the case but on Tuesday awarded Herman a $4.5 million default judgment after the woman failed to file a legal response to the lawsuit or appear in court.
Twitter @SteveSchmadeke