Quantcast

Chicago City Wire

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

W.J. Kennedy News

Medium screenshot

Former prosecutors urge federal judge to allow subpoena of records showing gang involvement in murder of 10-year-old

By W.J. Kennedy | May 20, 2025

Two plaintiffs in a wrongful conviction lawsuit surrounding the 1993 murder of ten-year-old Rodney Collins are trying to block former Assistant State’s Attorneys (ASAs) named in the lawsuit from subpoenaing Illinois Department of Correction (IDOC) records to show the relationship between the two and three others convicted of the murder.

Medium sidebyside

Cook County off the hook in wrongful conviction case

By W.J. Kennedy | May 16, 2025

A former Cook County State’s Attorney and the county itself will soon be off the hook as defendants in a wrongful conviction case brought by Robert Bouto, convicted of the 1993 murder of Salvador Ruvalcaba.

Medium hgarfinkel

Federal judge denies former prosecutor’s request in controversial Coleman/Fulton wrongful conviction case

By W.J. Kennedy | May 12, 2025

A former Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney who worked the brutal 1994 murder of a 19-year-old woman

Medium snelling

Chicago Police union weighing next steps in lawsuit

By W.J. Kennedy | May 9, 2025

Chicago FOP Lodge 7, the union representing rank-and-file cops,

Medium chicagomayorcandidatebrandonjohnson

Mayor Johnson: 'everybody agrees' that safety can't be achieved through policing alone

By W.J. Kennedy | May 9, 2025

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson quickly jumped all over the latest murder

Medium 1670442871635

Gov. Pritzker nominates plaintiff’s lawyer to torture relief commission

By W.J. Kennedy | May 6, 2025

Gov. JB Pritzker recently nominated attorney Sarah Raisch with the prominent plaintiffs’ firm of Romanucci & Blandin to the eight-member Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC), a controversial commission once described by a Will County judge as “very perilous to our system.”

Medium screenshot

City attorneys ordered to produce detectives’ 'street files' in wrongful conviction cases of brothers convicted of killing a 10-year-old

By W.J. Kennedy | May 6, 2025

A federal judge has ordered city attorneys to produce detective “street files” of homicides from 1989 to 1996 in the wrongful conviction lawsuits of brothers Reginald Henderson and Sean Tyler, convicted of the 1994 murder of ten-year-old Rodney Collins.

Medium kimfoxx800

Kim Foxx murder exoneration case falling apart with dismissal of charges against some defendants

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 30, 2025

Chicago police officers named in the wrongful conviction lawsuit of convicted murderer Arnold Day have filed a motion in federal court for summary judgement (dismissal of charges) against them on the heels of a summary judgement for others named in the lawsuit.

Medium screenshot

Brothers exonerated of murder by former State’s Attorney Kim Foxx attempt to drag the spectre of former Cdr. Jon Burge into their wrongful conviction lawsuits

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 11, 2025

Lawyers for the city of Chicago, named in a wrongful conviction lawsuit brought by exonerated brothers Sean Tyler and Reginald Henderson, are accusing lawyers for the brothers of trying to draw the emotionally charged allegations of torture against former CPD Commander Jon Burge into their lawsuits filed in federal court in 2023.

Medium nickt

Former supervisor of Felony Review Unit: State’s Attorneys' input in gun charges needed

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 9, 2025

A former Deputy Supervisor of the Felony Review Unit (FRU) in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) is expressing concern over the expansion of a program that allows police officers to file felony charges in certain gun cases without approval of the FRU.

Medium almbon

Lawyers battle over jurisdiction in Roberto Almodovar’s drawn-out wrongful conviction case

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 9, 2025

An attorney for Roberto Almodovar, convicted of a 1994 double murder but exonerated by former State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, is asking a federal judge to reconsider his summary judgement effectively dismissing all federal charges against one of the police officers named in Almodovar’s wrongful conviction lawsuit that was filed all the way back in 2018.

Medium eoakpsoxuaizhdc

Allegations in Weston wrongful conviction suit 'fails to carry the burden of proof'

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 7, 2025

Detective defendants and the city of Chicago are asking a federal judge to dismiss

Medium 483068397 1119793460161672 8992347225556778933 n

Retired homicide detective: 'Can't coddle criminals' and expect murder rates to go down

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 7, 2025

The reasons why Chicago is the murder capital of the nation for 13 years running are glaringly obvious, says Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski, and the city’s progressive leaders seem almost perversely committed to maintaining the status quo.

Medium cruzj

Eyewitness to the murder 'never recanted his testimony' against Jose Cruz

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 7, 2025

Lawyers for Jose Cruz, convicted of a 1993 gang murder but freed by former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx,

Medium mark glennon

Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse study: Democratic leaders in Springfield receive millions in political donations from the plaintiffs’ bar

By W.J. Kennedy | Mar 28, 2025

Democratic leaders in Springfield are the beneficiaries of millions in political donations from the plaintiffs’ bar, while the Republicans, in the minority in both the House and Senate, habitually receive nothing, a newly released study by the Illinois branch of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) shows.

Medium law foxx kim

Former prosecutor: Lawyers for Kim Foxx exonerees are on 'fishing expedition' in wrongful conviction lawsuit

By W.J. Kennedy | Mar 24, 2025

Lawyers battling in the wrongful conviction lawsuits of two brothers convicted of the 1994 murder of a 10-year-boy on the South Side continue to dicker over the expanse of files to be included in the discovery phase of claims that the brothers’ constitutional rights were violated in their arrest and prosecution.

Medium sidebyside

Former State's Attorney Kim Foxx's legacy lives on with $120 million wrongful conviction lawsuit payout

By W.J. Kennedy | Mar 24, 2025

A federal judge awarded the largest wrongful conviction settlement in the nation at $120 million to John Fulton and Anthony Mitchell for the 2003 murder of 18-year-old Christopher Collazo. Each had spent 16 years in prison until a judge threw out their convictions on their claims of police misconduct, with former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx then dropping all charges – as she had done in dozens of other cases over her eight years running the office.

Medium chiefyolandatalley

Small Business Administration Records: New CPD Deputy Chief Yolanda Talley received $21K PPP loan for 'other personal care' business

By W.J. Kennedy | Mar 20, 2025

Yolanda Talley, newly-named second in command of the Chicago Police Department, received a Paycheck Protection Program loan (PPP) for $20,833 in 2021 for a self-described "other personal care services" business, according to U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) records.

Medium know

ICE deports Sierra Leonean with ties to terrorist groups 17 years after arrest

By W.J. Kennedy | Mar 14, 2025

U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE) has deported an illegal immigrant

Medium paulvallas

Chicago remains nation's murder capital as the 'criminal industrial complex' churns on

By W.J. Kennedy | Mar 14, 2025

Murder rates in Chicago over 2024 show that the Windy City has kept its crown as the murder capital of the nation, according to a Wirepoints study that compared Chicago’s murder rates against those of 74 other large American cities.