DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lawyers for two black men wrongly convicted in the 1977 murder of a retired white Iowa police officer told jurors in a civil trial Thursday that investigators coerced witnesses into fabricating testimony.

Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee are suing Council Bluffs and two retired police investigators for more than $100 million. The men were sent to prison for life for the shotgun killing of John Schweer, a retired police captain who was working as a security guard for local car dealerships. Harrington and McGhee were freed in 2003 after 25 years in prison after the Iowa Supreme Court found prosecutors committed misconduct.

Recommended Stories

Brian Kemp rebuffs calls to redistrict Georgia map and curtail Keisha Lance Bottoms’s powers

Four parties and a funeral: How Kalshi and a duck owned election night in DC

Pritzker releases ‘Day One Agenda’ for Congress, urging Democrats to move swiftly