A man who represented himself in an effort to overturn his murder conviction after spending 20 years in prison has settled his wrongful conviction lawsuit for $15 million.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve approved the settlement with the city of Chicago Heights Wednesday for plaintiff Rodell Sanders, 51, who was convicted and sentenced to 80 years in prison for the 1993 shooting murder of Phillip Atkins and another 20 years for the attempted murder of Stacy Armstrong.

It is believed to be one of the largest-ever settlements for an individual wrongful conviction.

Armstrong, who survived the shooting and served as the only witness to the crime, described one of the offenders as a 6-foot-1 thin man who ordered the twin shootings.

“As you can see, Rodell Sanders has never been 6 feet tall and thin in his life,” said Russell Ainsworth, a partner at Loevy & Loevy who represented the shorter and stockier Sanders — who at the time of the shooting stood at 5 feet 8 inches and weighed nearly 200 pounds.

“Nevertheless, the police manipulated the witness to identify falsely Rodell Sanders and then used a snitch to bolster that testimony falsely, paying that witness and not disclosing that fact and causing Rodell Sanders to be wrongfully convicted of a murder he did not commit,” Ainsworth said.

Sanders studied the law while serving his prison sentence and represented himself through his effort to be exonerated. He called 11 witnesses — three of whom were sitting judges — to testify on his behalf before Circuit Judge John D. Turner Jr.

Turner vacated his conviction and ordered a new trial in January 2011. The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed Turner’s ruling in May 2012.

“I didn’t want to die in prison. I wanted to make it back out to my family,” Sanders said. “I wanted to expose Chicago Heights’ police department for what they were — those were corrupt police officers. I was saying from Day One that they framed me, and no one would believe me. Now it’s finally come out.”

Sanders was retried twice for the crime. He said his first retrial ended with a hung jury because of one juror who believed him and held out from agreeing with the others. He was acquitted of all charges against him in July 2014.

No other suspect has been tried for the crime, Ainsworth said.

“And that’s part of the injustice here is that there’s a victim,” he said. “Phil Atkins was murdered that day, and his family doesn’t get the justice of having the true perpetrator held responsible.”

Sanders brought his federal suit in January 2013 against Chicago Heights and those who played a role in his conviction. The suit alleged that his conviction was the product of a corrupt police force that robbed him of much of his adult life.

Chicago Heights was represented by Berwyn-based Del Galdo Law Group LLC partner K. Austin Zimmer as well as firm attorneys Cynthia S. Grandfield and Eric T. Stach.

Grandfield deferred comment to to Chicago Heights.

Karen Zerante, executive assistant to Mayor David A. Gonzalez, responded with an statement from Gonzalez. The statement says:

“The settlement, in which no wrongdoing has been assigned to the city of Chicago Heights Police Department, seeks to protect the interests of the taxpayers and to forge community unity in our diverse city.”

Ainsworth said the parties were set to begin trial on Oct. 31 when they agreed to settle. The city will contribute $2 million while its insurers will cover the remaining portion.

“Rodell Sanders’ case was like the canary in the coal mine,” Ainsworth said. “We need to learn from cases like this that discipline and oversight are the way to prevent future injustice.”

And although his case is now closed, Sanders said it doesn’t make things right and Chicago Heights still leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

“I don’t know if you can really say it makes things right because I can never get back those 20 years they’ve taken from me,” Sanders said. “There’s many, many things that I’ve lost, and they can never be given back, so no, it doesn’t make it right.”

Sanders has worked as a law clerk for Loevy & Loevy since he’s been out of prison. He said he intends to continue working at the firm and will begin investing in real estate.

Sanders was also represented by Loevy & Loevy attorneys Jon Loevy, Arthur Loevy, Elliot R. Slosar, Michael Kanovit and Gayle M. Horn.

The case is Sanders v. City of Chicago Heights et al., 13 CV 221.