Attorneys Say Iowa Detectives Framed Nebraska Men

Terry Harrington, left, smiles as he is escorted into the Pottawattamie County Courthouse, Wednesday, April 30, 2003, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Judge Gordon Abel ordered Harrington, who had been released from prison earlier this month after Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack signed a reprieve, to be held on a $100,000 bond with a provision allowing him to post 10 percent to be released. Harrington had been serving a life prison sentence without parole for the 1977 murder of a John Schweer in Council Bluffs, Iowa.Harrington was in custody because Pottawattamie County Attorney Matthew Wilbur has decided to retry the case. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

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By Ellen Kurt

Story Created: Nov 1, 2012 at 1:29 PM CDT

Story Updated: Nov 1, 2012 at 1:29 PM CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two black men who served 25 years in prison in the 1977 killing of a retired, white Iowa police captain say they were framed by detectives and are asking a jury to award them more than $100 million.

Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee were convicted in the slaying of John Schweer in Council Bluffs. They were freed in 2003 after the Iowa Supreme Court found prosecutors had committed misconduct.

The men's attorneys said during opening statements Thursday in Des Moines that they will show two former Council Bluff detectives coerced car theft suspects into implicating Harrington and McGhee in Schweer's death. The Nebraska men are suing the detectives and the city.

Their attorneys say they're seeking justice from a system that deprived them of freedom for much of their lives.