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Man Convicted Of Brown's Chicken Massacre Awarded $451K For Civil Rights Suit

(CBS) -- One of the men convicted of the 1993 Brown's Chicken massacre has been awarded almost half a million dollars in his civil rights suit against a Cook County jail guard accused of beating him.

The family of one of the Brown's murder victims is reacting.

"I think it's a crying shame," said Ann Ehlenfeldt.

Ann Ehlenfeldt is the sister of Richard Ehlenfeldt, the owner of the Brown's Chicken and Pasta restaurant in Palatine.

Man Convicted Of Brown's Chicken Massacre Awarded $451K

Ehlenfeldt and his wife and five employees were killed 21 years ago.

One of the two men convicted, James Degorski, sued the guard he accused of beating him after his arrest.

And now a federal jury has awarded Degorski $451,000.

"The people who had relatives killed - yes, they got some justice out of this. Nothing more than that.

"I have three nieces whose parents had a business that was totally lost because of them. They got nothing financially out of it."

Dana Sampson, the daughter Richard and Ann Ehlenfeldt, told CBS 2's Derrick BLakely the most disheartening thing about the decision was that, "Not all of the true facts were allowed to be presented in the trial."

The federal jury knew Degorski was a convicted murder, but they weren't told he had taken seven lives in cold blood. Degorski is now serving a life sentence at Menard State Prison.

The families of the victims could potentially sue to get some of that money. Ann Ehlenfeldt says she has no plans to do that. But she says if her nieces decide to - she will support them.

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