Two men’s lives were torn apart by police lies. It took decades to get justice

Chicago —

“I was mad at him for a long time,” James Gibson said.

“I didn’t want to talk to him,” Keith Smith said.

Both in their 50s now, they grew up on the same block in Chicago — “across the street, three houses,” Smith said, pointing and counting, on a recent visit.

What drove them apart happened in December 1989, where they were both accused of the murder of two men in their neighborhood.

Police picked up Gibson for the crime, even though he told them he was running an errand on the other side of the neighborhood at the time of the killing.

At the precinct, the officers handcuffed him to a chair. He was kept for days, where he was punched, slapped and kicked. He blacked out at least once while in custody, he told CNN.

Police were interrogating Smith at the same time. He was a