The Peoria City Council and Peoria County Board in separate votes each approved contributing $625,000 as part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the family of Cleve Heidelberg.

The $1.2 million total payout to Heidelberg’s estate resolves the last active case tied to the conviction of Heidelberg for an attempted burglary at the former Bellevue Drive-In theater in 1970, when Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Espinoza was shot and killed.

The City Council passed its measure April 8, with Councilman Chuck Grayeb the sole no vote. Two nights later, the County Board passed its resolution, with Board Member Brian Elsasser the only no vote, with Member Dan Kelch absent. The City and County will avoid possible costs from ongoing legal disputes after years of litigation about the case.

After the shooting, responding police pursued a car later determined to be owned by Heidelberg, who was found hiding near where it had crashed. However, Heidelberg said he wasn’t involved but had loaned the vehicle to someone else and was phoned that his car had been wrecked. Nevertheless, a jury found him guilty and he served 47 years of a life sentence in prison.

Heidelberg filed several appeals and in 1975 his conviction was affirmed, but years later a man came forth to identify another man as the one who killed Espinoza. In April 2017, Judge Albert Purham vacated the conviction, granted Heidelberg a new trial, and ordered him released on home-monitoring. However, Heidelberg died the following March. The next month, Steven Heidelberg, administrator of the Cleve Heidelberg estate, filed suit against the City, County and police, claiming Cleve Heidelberg’s rights were violated.

Last March, Judge Sara Darrow dismissed that suit because Heidelberg had settled related claims in 1982. However, the estate was appealing her ruling. Between 2016 through 2018, Community Word’s Clare Howard covered the case extensively.