The Dallas City Council unanimously approved a $900,000 settlement Wednesday for a man who says he was wrongfully convicted of murdering a 19-year-old woman after a detective suppressed key evidence in the case.
Shakur Stewart, formerly known as Everold Stewart, was sentenced Jan. 7, 1988, to 25 years in prison for the murder of Michelle Chinn in Dallas. Thirty years later, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacated his conviction after prosecutors discovered six pages of notes by the lead detective that contradicted eyewitness testimony from two people.
The case was dismissed in 2019 after the district attorney’s office said there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support a conviction.