Chicago brothers arrested, tortured into false confessions continue fight to expunge murder charge

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two Chicago brothers are hours away from finding out if they'll officially be cleared of a murder they didn't commit.

The two men were arrested and tortured into false confessions.

The brothers have been out of prison for several years, but are awaiting their certificates of innocence and hoping that happens Monday.

The past four years have been challenging, to say the least, adjusting to life on the outside.

"Every day is a struggle," said Sean Tyler.

Tyler and his brother, Reginald Henderson, have spent the better part of their lives in prison for a crime they had nothing to do with.

"The psychological effects that that holds -- going into prison as someone who didn't do what you did and you're just thrust into a system," Henderson said.

"To find a way to manage, to maintain, to get through 25 years and still come out here and try to function accordingly in the world where things are so much different from 1994," Tyler said.

At 17 and 18 years old, they said they were tortured into murder confessions by officers trained under former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge.

They were exonerated in 2021 but two years later, they still have not received certificates of innocence, which would expunge their record.

Now, they return to court Monday to fight.

"For somebody who's been wrongfully convicted, this is what you want," Tyler said. "We've been wrongfully convicted, and we want this to tell you that you didn't do it. Not for no one else, but for your own personal reason, after being ran across the news as a killer."

Henderson earned a college degree behind bars. Tyler wrote several books and designed a clothing line "Nuvisean," highlighting the resilience, persistence and determination it took to prove their innocence.

"Knowing for yourself that you didn't do it and continue to pound the pavement, continuing to go to the law library, reach out to these attorneys and continue to stand your ground and say that it wasn't me. That took a lot to be able to do that," Tyler said.

Though this certificate will never give them back the years they lost, it will give them closure.

"We can honestly say as men today, we are obligated to make a conscious contribution to the uplifting of humanity," Henderson said.