CONSTANTINE, Mich. – A man who was repeatedly hounded by police during an investigation of a girl’s killing in southwestern Michigan has filed a lawsuit, two years after his wrongful conviction for perjury was thrown out.
Ray McCann said his constitutional rights were violated by various police officers in St. Joseph County. He filed a lawsuit last week in federal court.
McCann served 20 months in jail and prison after feeling pressured to plead no contest to perjury. The conviction was thrown out in 2017 at the request of a prosecutor, two years after another man confessed to killing 11-year-old Jodi Parrack.
McCann denied any role in the 2007 death of Parrack, but he was interviewed 20 times by state and local police in St. Joseph County.
The lawsuit alleges that McCann was the victim of a “corrupt scheme” by police.
McCann’s criminal case was reopened after an investigation by law schools at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University.
The state of Michigan agreed to pay $40,000 for McCann’s time in prison under a law that compensates the wrongly convicted.