Former Gurnee man exonerated after decades in prison for murder files suit against law enforcement officials

It’s been a year since Herman Williams was released from an Illinois prison after his conviction for the murder of his ex-wife was vacated in Lake County, but after three decades behind bars he says it still can feel unreal.

“Sometimes it feels like a dream, and I’m going to wake up and be back in prison,” Williams said Wednesday in Chicago.

The former U.S. Navy chief petty officer returned to Illinois this week from his Arizona home as his attorneys filed a lawsuit in federal court against nine former Lake County police officers and their respective departments, along with two former state’s attorneys and a now-deceased pathologist.

Read more of Clifford Ward's reporting in the Lake County News-Sun and for the Chicago Tribune.