INDIANAPOLIS — A man freed after a wrongful conviction for murder is now suing the City of Indianapolis and police officers he claims concealed evidence to put him behind bars.
Leon Benson was convicted in the Aug. 8, 1998 deadly shooting of Kasey Schoen, who was found shot to death in the cab of his truck at 14th and Pennsylvania streets in Indianapolis.
Court records show Benson was tried in 1999 for Schoen's murder. It ended in a mistrial. He would be tried again two months later, but this time, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison.
"That's the closest to death on this side of life, when you sit there and nobody believes you," Benson told 13News in March 2024. "You yell and nobody listens. It's the equivalent of having a stab wound in your back and people just walking by you from the sidewalk and you say, 'Help,' but no one looks. No one knows."
Twenty-two years after Benson was put in prison, the Conviction Integrity Unit of the Marion County Prosecutor's Office began investigating his case.
"I missed out on just being free, being able to do what I want, but what hurts the most, I missed out on the time to be there with my children when they grew up. They were 2 and 1. It's a deep hurt," Benson said.
In March 2023, a Marion County judge determined Benson had been wrongfully convicted. The prosecutor's office dismissed the charges with prejudice.
It came after it was determined the detective on the case withheld key evidence that pointed to another man.
"I believe what provoked him, it was love. He had love for his kindred. He seen a person of white descent shot down. Maybe this kid looked like his son, his nephew. I get it. This is what (the detective) does. He's not a bad guy per se, he just made the wrong decision," Benson said.
According to Benson's lawsuit, the detective signed a sworn declaration in May 2022 that critical exculpatory evidence was never turned over to Benson or the prosecutor's office in 1998. He then allegedly admits that "failing to disclose such evidence was his routine practice." The suit claims the detective admitted "that it was his practice to withhold handwritten notes from witness interviews and handwritten notes from other law enforcement officers."
Benson's lawsuit claims the evidence pointed to another man who worked with police leading to drug ring convictions. Benson's suit claims police purposefully concealed evidence to shield the other man from prosecution.
Benson's suit goes on to claim that now, IMPD officers contacted members of the victim's family, including Schoen's sister Kolleen Bunch, who has joined Benson on his lawsuit against the city and police officers. The lawsuit alleges the officers claimed to have reinvestigated the case and that Benson was responsible. The suit claims the officers wanted Schoen's family to challenge Benson's exoneration and the legitimacy of the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit.
The suit claims the IMPD officers did this in an attempt to protect past officers' actions and keep other wrongful convictions from coming to light.
"We really want to send a message and a signal to law enforcement everywhere, that this kind of behavior is completely unacceptable," said Lara Bazelon, one of the attorneys representing both Benson and Bunch.
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The suit goes on to claim that another man known to officers from a previous arrest was wearing clothing in that arrest that matched a witness description of the suspect in Schoen's murder. Additionally, that the other man was known to have a gun and sell drugs in the area where the murder happened.
The suit claims a witness to the shooting changed her description of the shooter, after meeting with police, to identify Benson as the killer.
"Several of the people we name from the police department, they were responsible for bringing about the wrongful conviction of Leon Benson, but the two individuals that you mentioned, they're responsible for perpetuating the injustice by essentially pretending to investigate without any intention of reinvestigating at all, and instead, to perpetuate a lie, which is telling the victim's sister, 'Hey, Leon Benson did it,' when the overwhelming evidence shows that he does not, did not, and someone else did," Bazelon said.
Benson and Bunch are asking for damages, attorneys' fees, punitive damages and any other relief the court finds appropriate. They are requesting a jury trial.
"It's a heartbreaking message because of the amount of harm and how far and deep it spread and also to me, it's a hopeful message because it shows you there are good people in this world — Leon and Kolleen are two of them," Bazelon said. "That they were able to reach across this divide, literally sitting on opposite sides of the courtroom and told to hate each other and that they could come together after all of this and join forces, to me is deeply meaningful."
13News reached out to IMPD for a response to the lawsuit and was issued the following statement:
"There is a pending lawsuit regarding this case. Out of respect for the judicial process, we do not comment on pending litigation."