Suit about probe in murder case dropped

Associated Press

AKRON

A former Akron police captain imprisoned for the fatal shooting of his ex-wife has dropped a federal lawsuit against investigators who helped convict him.

Sixty-nine-year-old Douglas Prade filed the suit against Akron police officers, county coroner employees and an FBI examiner in January 2014 after a judge exonerated him in the slaying of Dr. Margo Prade because his DNA didn’t match evidence found on his ex-wife’s lab coat. Prade claimed in the lawsuit that the investigators had deprived him of a fair trial in 1998.

An appellate court subsequently reinstated the conviction. Another judge will hear arguments June 12 in Akron about whether Prade should get a new trial.

A statement from Prade’s Chicago-based attorney said the suit temporarily was withdrawn while the criminal case is being resolved.