Lavern Chalmers is a witness to the murders of Simon Brooks who would been crucial for exonerating Andrew Dillard for the killings.
History[]
Detective Manfredo took Chalmers statement at the murder scene of the third of five boys, Jaleel Franklin, killed in 1991. Chalmers reported a black man was seen in the area around the time Jaleel was murdered. Instead, Dillard, a racist, was fingered for the murders due to driving a delivery truck for a bakery, which circumstantially placed him near the boys, as they all often were at grocery stores.
Manfredo gave Chalmers' statement to one of the prosecutors, Diana Hawthorne, but she threw the statement out and put more focus on the falsely incriminating evidence against Dillard, leading to his conviction and five-year imprisonment. But Brooks, a security guard and the real killer, went off psychiatric medication that stopped him from killing in 1996, leading him to murder two more boys.
Brooks was tracked and confessed to the murders of all seven boys, leading to Dillard's case being reviewed and his eventual exoneration and release. When Dillard sued for reparations, Hawthorne's biased procedure was exposed in part due to Manfredo revealing Chalmers' statement. Hawthorne was thus tried and convicted of her role for perverting the justice system. (L&O: "Trophy")