Quantcast

Chicago City Wire

Saturday, October 25, 2025

W.J. Kennedy News

Medium kimfoxx800

Federal judge in Tyler/Henderson wrongful conviction case grants plaintiff request to have priority in deposition

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 17, 2025

Attorneys for Sean Tyler and Reginal Henderson, convicted in the 1994 murder of Rodney Collins, have been granted priority to depose witness Andrea Murray after a federal judge approved the request, even though they did not pursue her deposition during the 18-month discovery period.

Medium ljames

Internal charges filed against Chicago FOP president John Catanzara amid union turmoil

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 12, 2025

John Catanzara, president of Chicago Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 7, is facing charges filed by a union board member related to financial management and union governance.

Medium rpearson

Illinois guns rights group to appeal court ruling banning concealed weapons on public transit

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 9, 2025

The Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a Seventh Circuit decision that reversed a lower court ruling and upheld the state’s ban on concealed carry on public transportation.

Medium gabrielafuentes

Federal judge allows deposition of key witness in Jose Cruz wrongful conviction case

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 8, 2025

U.S. District Judge Gabriel Fuentes has granted a motion by defense attorneys representing police officers to depose Luis “Danny” Rodriguez, a key witness in Jose Cruz’s wrongful conviction lawsuit.

Medium bdohrn

Capital Research Center: Fifty years after its final bombing, the Weather Underground’s legacy still sparks debate

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 6, 2025

Fifty years after its final known bombing, the Weather Underground’s legacy continues to spark debate, as critics argue the radical group's ideology lives on in modern institutions and public figures.

Medium breen

Thomas More Society defends religious freedoms in federal court

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 4, 2025

Last week, lawyers with the Thomas More Society (TMS), a Chicago-based public interest firm

Medium nevest coleman

Federal judge clears police defendants of claims in Nevest Coleman wrongful conviction case

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 1, 2025

U.S. District Court Judge Martha Pacold has cleared former detectives who investigated the 1994 rape and murder of 20-year-old Antwinica Bridgeman of a list of claims in the wrongful conviction lawsuits by the two convicted of her murder—Nevest Coleman and Derrell Fulton.

Medium tmclaughlin

Homeland Security: Media overlooks victims of illegal alien crime

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 31, 2025

Deportations of illegal immigrants receive heavy coverage from mainstream media, but stories of the victims of crimes committed by illegals are largely missing from the press, the Department of Homeland Security said in a recent statement.

Medium snelling

Former Chicago FOP leaders urge state’s attorney to recharge gang members in officer’s 2011 murder

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 25, 2025

Two former Fraternal Order of Police leaders have reached out to Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling, urging State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke to recharge three Latin Cobra gang members in the 2011 murder of police officer Clifton Lewis.

Medium sherman

Illinois Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse opposes Pritzker’s new expanded civil lawsuit legislation

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 25, 2025

Lawsuit reform advocates with Illinois Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse are voicing opposition after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation allowing trial lawyers nationwide to file lawsuits in Illinois courts, even when the alleged injury occurred outside the state and defendants have no local presence.

Medium marty

Former FOP spokesman Preib says wrongful conviction settlements add millions to Chicago’s pension strain

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 25, 2025

Martin Preib, the former spokesman for the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, says multimillion-dollar wrongful conviction settlements approved by city officials are adding financial strain to an already underfunded police pension system, according to a recent column.

Medium catanzara

Fraternal Order of Police to appeal ruling that arbitration for 'egregious misconduct' must be public

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 15, 2025

An attorney representing the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) said the organization plans to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court after a three-judge appellate panel upheld a ruling requiring public access to arbitration hearings involving serious police misconduct.

Medium foxx

Dante Brown, convicted double murderer whose sentence was reduced, accused of shooting security guard

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 15, 2025

Less than a year after Cook County Judge Michael McHale reduced Dante Brown’s life sentence for a double murder to 20 years — the time he had already served — Brown is back in custody, accused of shooting a security guard during an attempted robbery.

Medium 362915415 10160567994339185 3141282822126941070 n

Cook County state’s attorney challenges certificate of innocence in 23-year-old murder case

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 12, 2025

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is challenging a petition for a Certificate of Innocence (COI) filed by Kevin Jackson, who was convicted of a 2001 murder and later exonerated under former State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

Medium snelling

Chicago police oversight commission advancing traffic stop restrictions despite public opposition

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 12, 2025

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) is advancing proposals to restrict certain traffic stops by Chicago police despite an internal survey showing most residents oppose the changes.

Medium il andriesen patrick ipi

Illinois Policy Institute report: Chicago homicides hit 10-year low, but arrest rate falls to 27%

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 11, 2025

A newly released analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) shows that the number of homicides in Chicago over the past year is lower than at any time in the past decade. At the same time, arrest rates related to homicides have fallen from 42 percent to 27 percent over the past decade.

Medium kfont

National Immigrant Justice Center ranks seventh on Capital Research Center’s list of ‘most ridiculous’ nonprofits

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 11, 2025

The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), a Chicago-based nonprofit providing free legal services to immigrants, has been ranked seventh on the Capital Research Center’s (CRC) list of the country’s top ten “most ridiculous” nonprofits.

Medium kjackson

Activist group Chicago Alliance paving the way for plaintiff lawyers to launch volley of wrongful conviction lawsuits

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 4, 2025

The activist group Chicago Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (CAARPR) is organizing a rally on Wednesday, August 6, outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, where attorneys will attend a status hearing on a petition for a Certificate of Innocence filed by a man convicted of a 2001 murder.

Medium sellis

Tactics by lawyers representing Arnold Day in wrongful conviction lawsuit highlighted in motion

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 1, 2025

Attorneys for the defendant police officers in Arnold Day’s federal wrongful conviction case accused Day’s legal team at Loevy & Loevy of violating a standing court order related to summary judgment filings—an issue they claim the firm has been previously warned about in other cases.

Medium dondrew

Brother of DUI victim killed by illegal immigrant: Cook County sanctuary policies ‘let him make bail’

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 31, 2025

Chicago resident Brian McCann is speaking out more than a decade after his brother was killed by a man living in the country illegally, saying Cook County’s sanctuary policies allowed the suspect to flee before trial and contributed to delays in justice.