Watch Leon Benson and Kolleen Schoen-Bunch speak publicly for the first time about their lawsuit against the City of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Police Department (IMPD). The lawsuit is just one aspect of their struggle for truth and both are joined by Benson’s sister, Valerie Buford.
In May 2024, Benson and Schoen-Bunch filed a Civil Rights lawsuit against the City of Indianapolis and Steven Garner, Eli McAllister, Alan F. Jones, Columbus Ricks, and Leslie VansBuskirk. All defendants are still cops, except for Garner, who left the IMPD to police Indianapolis Public Schools for 17 years before retiring in 2019. This is the first lawsuit jointly filed by the victim’s family and the person exonerated for the crime and between Benson’s exoneration in March 2023 and the March 2025 press conference, neither have stopped fighting for justice for Kasey Schoen, victims of the criminal “justice” system, and all justice-impacted people.
The cops who framed Benson knew Kasey’s real killer was Joseph Webster, who is currently being protected by the state. The cops forced Benson to spend over half of his life behind prison bars, 10 of them in solitary confinement. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office told Kolleen they are not pursuing the matter any further.
Photo: Leon Benson, Valerie Buford, and Kolleen Bunch-Schoen at Common Unity 2.0. Credit: Indianapolis Liberation Center.