Peoria, Ill. ? A former Illinois death row inmate whose double-murder conviction was overturned in 2004 filed a lawsuit Friday alleging authorities conspired to frame him and another man still serving a life sentence in the case.

Gordon Randall Steidl, 53, alleges revenge and efforts to protect a politically connected businessman fueled the conspiracy that landed Steidl in prison for 17 years, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court.

The lawsuit alleges authorities manipulated and threatened key witnesses in the case against Steidl and Herb Whitlock, who were convicted of stabbing Dyke and Karen Rhoads to death and setting their home ablaze in 1986.

The civil rights lawsuit – filed a year to the day after Steidl was released from prison – is against the city of Paris, Edgar County, the former state’s attorney and nine investigators who worked on the case.

City, county and state officials declined comment Friday, saying they had not seen the lawsuit.

The lawsuit contends authorities focused on Steidl and Whitlock to steer the investigation away from an unnamed, politically connected businessman whom a subsequent investigation labeled as a suspect in the killings.

G. Flint Taylor, one of Steidl’s attorneys, said he will seek about $2 million for each year Steidl spent in prison, where he was stabbed for refusing to participate in a death-row hunger strike when serial killer John Wayne Gacy faced execution.

Steidl was released from prison after a judge ordered a new trial and prosecutors said they couldn’t make their case in time. The judge ruled it was “reasonably probable” Steidl would have been acquitted had his defense attorney done more to challenge the state’s case.