W.J. Kennedy Stories | Chicago City Wire

Alderman: Rare rejection of settlement surrounding police shooting brings hope of heightened scrutiny of payouts

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 27, 2023

For Alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward) last week’s City Council rejection of a $2 million settlement in the 2014 police shooting death of Darius Cole-Garrit is a hopeful sign that his colleagues will closely scrutinize future recommended payouts by the city’s Law Department concerning alleged cases of police misconduct

Cops battling exposure to illnesses, unsubstantiated sexual misconduct allegations surrounding illegals housed in their stations

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 27, 2023

One of the fallouts of having hundreds of illegal immigrants housed in police stations around the city is that the police are exposed to illnesses carried by possibly unvaccinated individuals with inadequate, or no, health care, and to their trash.

Reports surrounding police consent decrees usually flawed, law enforcement expert says

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 7, 2023

A recent report showing that the Chicago police were nine times more likely to stop Blacks than Whites over 2018 and 2019 presents an incomplete and potentially misleading profile of law enforcement practices in the city, says Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund out of Washington D.C.

Federal judge with questions on COIs for two convicted murderers blocks deposition of Kim Foxx staff attorney

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 6, 2023

In a surprise move, U.S. District Court Judge Steven Seeger blocked the deposition of First Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Risa Lanier in the wrongful conviction cases of two found guilty in the 1998 savage murders of a husband and wife, and the kidnapping of their children.

Discussions with Kim Foxx’s office centered on detective’s record, not the awarding of Innocence Certificates to their clients, plaintiffs’ attorneys say

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 30, 2023

Plaintiffs’ attorneys in a federal wrongful conviction case say they met with officials in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office (CCSAO), headed by Kim Fox, to layout abuse claims against retired detective Reynaldo Guevara, not argue in favor of their clients receiving Certificates of Innocence (COI).

Former ethics official under Kim Foxx, who quietly walked away from Smollett debacle, nominated as next U.S. Attorney for Northern District

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 29, 2023

President Joe Biden has nominated April Perry, a former official with the Cook County State’s Attorney Office, to be the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois

Lawyers settle wrongful conviction case surrounding murder of college basketball star

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 24, 2023

In a shocking development, settlements have been reached in the wrongful conviction cases of Tyrone Hood and Wayne Washington, convicted of the 1993 murder of college basketball star Morgan Marshall Jr.

Kim Foxx’s office continues to fight deposition of one of her top officials in controversial Certificate of Innocence case

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 23, 2023

Kim Foxx is fighting desperately to stop one of her top officials from being deposed to answer why the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) dropped its opposition to the awarding of Certificates of Innocence (COIs) to two convicted of the savage 1998 murders of a husband and wife, and the kidnapping of their children.

One challenge to constitutional authority of torture commission remains active while a separate challenge fails

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 22, 2023

In a wrongful conviction case surrounding the 40-year-old murders of two Chicago police officers, a federal judge rejected a defense argument to dismiss the case because the Torture Inquiry & Relief Commission (TIRC), which set in motion the release of one of the convicted murderers, Jackie Wilson, was unconstitutional.

Crime and funding for soft-on-crime policies keeps rising

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 20, 2023

Crime has jumped 38 percent in Brandon Johnson’s first month as mayor, and while Wirepoints, which reported the increase, was hesitant to tie Johnson’ policy or rhetoric to the increase, soft-on-crime policies funded by the left keep rising as well.

How a commutation of a murder sentence was accomplished 'outside the courts'

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 16, 2023

Biased media coverage, not the uncovering of new evidence, led to the 2015 commutation of the sentence of convicted murderer Tyrone Hood, attorneys for city detectives named in a federal wrongful conviction lawsuit say, and they are planning to introduce damming statements from a past associate of Hood’s attorneys to prove it.

Family photos of convicted murderers latest battleground in key wrongful conviction cases

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 14, 2023

Defense attorneys for a group of retired Chicago detectives in two key wrongful conviction cases in federal court are battling some last-minute maneuvers by plaintiffs’ attorney to introduce family photos of two convicted for the 1993 murder of college student Marshall Morgan Jr.

COPA recommendation of dismissal of police officer condemned on social media

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 13, 2023

The head of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) recently recommended the dismissal of a police officer who fired at two suspects after being shot at in the Far West Side in 2018.

New law limiting legal challenges to state laws and executive orders unconstitutional on many fronts: legal expert

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 9, 2023

Legislation that Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, signed this week that limits challenges to his and the General Assembly’s Democratic agenda to circuit courts in Cook (Chicago) and Sangamon (Springfield) Counties is in direct violation of the Illinois Constitution on at least two fronts, Jacob Heubert, President of the Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center (LJC), tells Chicago City Wire.

Former police union official questions why FOP silent on constitutional authority of torture commission

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 8, 2023

A former FOP official is questioning why the union representing thousands of Chicago police officers has yet to challenge the constitutional authority of a state-level commission that has soiled the reputations of numerous former detectives and officers based on unsubstantiated allegations of police brutality.

Prominent plaintiffs’ attorney, with penchant for personal attacks, goes off on special prosecutors in wrongful conviction case

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 5, 2023

A plaintiffs’ attorney with a history of unleashing verbal assaults at prosecutors and judges recently went off on special prosecutors in an ongoing wrongful conviction case surrounding a 27-year-old double murder.

Kim Foxx’s office admits that not challenging innocence certificates for two convicted murderers does not mean the two are innocent

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 1, 2023

The Cook County State’s Attorney office (CCSAO) said it’s willing to admit in a court declaration that its non-opposition to Certificates of Innocence (COIs) for two, Gabriel Solache and Arturo DeLeon-Reyes, convicted in a 1998 double murder “did not reflect a final determination that either Petitioner Solache or Petitioner Reyes was innocent.”

Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office misses deadline to explain reversal of COI opposition

By W.J. Kennedy | May 30, 2023

A review of court documents has shown that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office failed to respond to a federal judge’s order to explain why it dropped its opposition to the awarding of COIs to two suspects convicted in a 1998 double murder.

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'You suck,' prominent plaintiff attorney tells prosecutors in profanity filled rant

By W.J. Kennedy | May 25, 2023

Jennifer Bonjean, a prominent plaintiff attorney who has represented celebrity clients and numerous others in wrongful conviction cases, told prosecutors in a profanity filled YouTube rant that “you suck,” and the only reason you won is because “90 percent of the time the judge is predisposed to rule against the defendant.”

Report calling Chicago “wrongful conviction capital of the United States” misleads, fails to address the politics, money driving the cases

By W.J. Kennedy | May 22, 2023

A WTTW report noting that Chicago accounted for more than half of the exoneration cases in the United States over 2022, many of them convicted murderers, paints a sorry picture of the Chicago Police Department

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