La Crosse man files suit against Eau Claire police
By Kevin Murphy Special to the Tribune
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MADISON — A La Crosse man who had a stroke while in prison on a murder conviction that later was successfully appealed filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday accusing Eau Claire police of intentional misconduct and malicious prosecution.
Evan Zimmerman, 59, had been sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for first-degree intentional homicide and kidnapping in the strangulation death of Kathleen Thompson, 38, of Eau Claire.
Thompson, Zimmerman’s former girlfriend, had been found dead on an Eau Claire street on Feb. 26, 2000. Just hours earlier, she had gotten married and then was taken to jail after a domestic incident; the groom was still in jail at the time of the killing.
That conviction was overturned on appeal in 2003 with help from the Wisconsin Innocence Project. He moved to La Crosse after his release.
Four days into Zimmerman’s second trial last April, where he was represented by La Crosse attorney Keith Belzer, the Eau Claire District Attorney dropped the case, saying he didn’t have enough proof for a conviction.
Zimmerman, a former Augusta, Wis., police officer, claims in the suit that police officers Eric Larsen, Donn Adams, Gary Foster and others conspired to frame him for the slaying.
In the 20-page complaint, Zimmerman claims as the case fell apart and DNA evidence failed to connect him to the crime, police turned to “improper measures.”
Some of the accusations of misconduct in the lawsuit include:
# Police set up roadblocks and randomly asked motorists if they had information about a white minivan, the kind of a vehicle Zimmerman owned at the time. Two months after the death, a man recalled seeing a woman sleeping in a van. Police took him to Madison and questioned him under hypnosis, at which point he said he remembered seeing a woman who matched Thompson’s description.
# Larsen, lead investigator in the case, “planted” two dog hairs on Thompson’s clothing after the conviction was reversed on appeal. Police had theorized Thompson was murdered in Zimmerman’s minivan, which was covered with dog hair, but before the appeal two separate forensic investigators had failed to find any dog hair on her clothing.
# Officers created false reports in which Zimmerman lied about his alibi, and questioned Zimmerman while he was intoxicated in hopes of getting him to make inconsistent statements. They also failed to investigate other information that would have exonerated Zimmerman, according to the complaint.
Eau Claire City Attorney Stephen Nick said he hadn’t seen the suit Monday and had no comment. Zimmerman’s attorney, Arthur Loevy of Chicago, wasn’t available for comment Monday.
Belzer, Zimmerman’s former attorney, also declined to comment directly on the suit’s allegations but said he didn’t think police looked “anywhere but at Evan Zimmerman, and looked to make a case where one didn’t exist.”
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http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2006/02/14/news/z5news14.txt
By Kevin Murphy Special to the Tribune
.
MADISON — A La Crosse man who had a stroke while in prison on a murder conviction that later was successfully appealed filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday accusing Eau Claire police of intentional misconduct and malicious prosecution.
Evan Zimmerman, 59, had been sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for first-degree intentional homicide and kidnapping in the strangulation death of Kathleen Thompson, 38, of Eau Claire.
Thompson, Zimmerman’s former girlfriend, had been found dead on an Eau Claire street on Feb. 26, 2000. Just hours earlier, she had gotten married and then was taken to jail after a domestic incident; the groom was still in jail at the time of the killing.
That conviction was overturned on appeal in 2003 with help from the Wisconsin Innocence Project. He moved to La Crosse after his release.
Four days into Zimmerman’s second trial last April, where he was represented by La Crosse attorney Keith Belzer, the Eau Claire District Attorney dropped the case, saying he didn’t have enough proof for a conviction.
Zimmerman, a former Augusta, Wis., police officer, claims in the suit that police officers Eric Larsen, Donn Adams, Gary Foster and others conspired to frame him for the slaying.
In the 20-page complaint, Zimmerman claims as the case fell apart and DNA evidence failed to connect him to the crime, police turned to “improper measures.”
Some of the accusations of misconduct in the lawsuit include:
# Police set up roadblocks and randomly asked motorists if they had information about a white minivan, the kind of a vehicle Zimmerman owned at the time. Two months after the death, a man recalled seeing a woman sleeping in a van. Police took him to Madison and questioned him under hypnosis, at which point he said he remembered seeing a woman who matched Thompson’s description.
# Larsen, lead investigator in the case, “planted” two dog hairs on Thompson’s clothing after the conviction was reversed on appeal. Police had theorized Thompson was murdered in Zimmerman’s minivan, which was covered with dog hair, but before the appeal two separate forensic investigators had failed to find any dog hair on her clothing.
# Officers created false reports in which Zimmerman lied about his alibi, and questioned Zimmerman while he was intoxicated in hopes of getting him to make inconsistent statements. They also failed to investigate other information that would have exonerated Zimmerman, according to the complaint.
Eau Claire City Attorney Stephen Nick said he hadn’t seen the suit Monday and had no comment. Zimmerman’s attorney, Arthur Loevy of Chicago, wasn’t available for comment Monday.
Belzer, Zimmerman’s former attorney, also declined to comment directly on the suit’s allegations but said he didn’t think police looked “anywhere but at Evan Zimmerman, and looked to make a case where one didn’t exist.”
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http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2006/02/14/news/z5news14.txt