W.J. Kennedy Stories | Chicago City Wire

Gun sales spike after summer of 'mostly peaceful protests,' passage of SAFE-T Act passage

By W.J. Kennedy | Mar 1, 2023

Sales of firearms in Illinois spiked with the onset of the Covid lockdowns and the Chicago riots over the summer of 2020, and again late last year, just before the SAFE-T Act with its cashless bail system, went into effect in the new year.

Reporters willing participants in contrived media campaign that freed convicted killer: city attorneys

By W.J. Kennedy | Feb 28, 2023

City attorneys representing former Chicago police detectives in a wrongful conviction case blasted the reporters from the New Yorker magazine, NBC Chicago and other news outlets for pushing a narrative that one of the convicted killers of a college basketball star in 1993 was innocent of the crime

Admit evidence that gang member pressured key witness to recant testimony in murder of college basketball star, city attorneys say

By W.J. Kennedy | Feb 23, 2023

A key witness in the 1993 murder of college basketball start Marshall Morgan Jr. was pressured by a gang member to recant his testimony, and that evidence should be allowed in a civil trial brought by two men later exonerated of the crime, city attorneys argued in a motion recently filed in federal court.

City attorneys seek answers from Kim Foxx's office in brutal double murder case

By W.J. Kennedy | Feb 23, 2023

City attorneys representing former Chicago police officers are trying to pull back the curtain on why in November the Cook County State’s Attorney’s reversed its opposition to the granting of Certificates of Innocence (COI) to two convicted of the 1998 brutal murders of a husband and wife, and the kidnapping of their children.

Woman who nearly killed police officer gets bail conditions reduced to simple nighttime curfew

By W.J. Kennedy | Feb 16, 2023

In what one criminal justice scholar called “absolute craziness,” a Cook County judge last week eased bail conditions from an ankle monitor to a nighttime curfew for a woman who nearly killed a police officer in June.

Rats and needles hot election issue in Rogers Park Aldermanic race

By W.J. Kennedy | Feb 14, 2023

Some residents adjacent to Touhy Park feel like prisoners in their own homes, surrounded by rats, public drug use and threatening behavior that they blame on a year-and-a half old homeless encampment in the park.

Ald. Rodriguez slammed for identifying offender shot by police as 'victim'

By W.J. Kennedy | Feb 10, 2023

Samie Martinez, who is challenging Alderwoman Rossana Rodriquez (33 Ward), slammed her for characterizing an offender shot by police in Irving Park on Wednesday as a “victim.”

Ald. Maria Hadden hit with ethics complaint over alleged inside deal in licensing of two liquor stores

By W.J. Kennedy | Feb 7, 2023

Alderman Maria Hadden (49th) was hit with allegations of multiple ethics code violations for wielding her political influence to license two packaged good liquor stores in areas in her Rogers Park ward under a moratorium.

Police recruits to receive instruction on controversial wrongful conviction cases

By W.J. Kennedy | Feb 3, 2023

The instructor of a new wrongful convictions course for Illinois police recruits said he was unaware that many of the higher profile cases have been criticized as being short on findings of new evidence and long on hyped-up media reports.

Charges of racism leveled at Black high school teachers in complaint surrounding hanging of black Chicago Bears doll

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 31, 2023

The attorney for suspended high school teacher Carl Pasowicz filed a blistering five count complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against his colleagues at the Whitney Young Magnet High School over the hanging of a black Chicago Bears doll from a cord in his classroom.

Defense lawyers pushing for the allowance of gang affiliation evidence in wrongful conviction trials

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 27, 2023

Attorneys defending former city detectives in a wrongful conviction case are arguing for the allowance of gang affiliation, and witness intimidation, as evidence in the trial.

'Meritless' complaints against police to explode under SAFE-T Act

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 25, 2023

Much of the focus on the recent overhaul of the criminal justice system, the SAFE-T Act, has been on the almost certain increase in crime under a move to a cashless bail system.

Wide dispartiy between police and school versions of armed eighth grader

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 23, 2023

The threat level of an eighth grader recently bringing a gun to a Chicago elementary school was much higher under the police recount of the incident than under the school’s take on it.

Girlfriend of convicted murderer front and center in defense of retired detective

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 13, 2023

The girlfriend of a convicted murderer and gang member could be key in the defense of a former Chicago detective named in a wrongful conviction trial.

State’s Attorney Kim Foxx missing in action in recent exonerations that set once convicted murderers up for large cash awards

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 11, 2023

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office recently declined to oppose the post-conviction petitions in separate double murder cases, positioning three convicted of the murders for large cash settlements from the city.

Teachers targeted by student in Uptown school, yet police receive barely a mention in school safety measures

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 6, 2023

A recent memo from CPS Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez reassuring staff on the safety measures employed by the district failed to include contacting the police when threats of violence arise.

"Immune from investigation;" Police officer’s complaint against Kim Foxx shot down by state attorney disciplinary commission

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 8, 2022

The commission that oversees attorney conduct in Illinois has rejected a complaint by a Chicago police officer asking that it investigate Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s professional conduct in the nationally publicized Jussie Smollett case, and in her vacating nearly 200 criminal convictions, some involving homicides.

Thomas More Society lauds Supreme Court's ruling on donor disclosure

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 5, 2021

The Chicago-based Thomas More Society, a conservative-leaning national public interest law firm, celebrated Thursday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down a California regulation requiring nonprofits to reveal the names and contribution amounts of their largest donors to the government.

March for Life Chicago tour begins Jan. 2 in Wisconsin

By W.J. Kennedy | Dec 28, 2020

March for Life Chicago is going on tour this winter, starting in Madison, Wisconsin, on Jan. 2. The pro-life caravan will hit four additional Midwest cities before its final stop in Chicago on Jan. 23.

'They can't get away from it' – Nightmare summer taking its toll on CPD

By W.J. Kennedy | Aug 27, 2020

Working 12-hour days, seven days a week would increase anyone's level of stress, but the emotional and physical strain that officers in the Chicago Police Department are taking on top of those long hours this summer is more than anyone should have to endure, says former Chicago cop turned clinical psychologist Carrie Steiner.

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