W.J. Kennedy Stories | Chicago City Wire

Policy banning Chicago cops from joining 'hate' groups open to First Amendment rights challenge: legal expert

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 30, 2023

A policy recently approved by a community oversight group that bans Chicago cops from joining “hate” and “extremist” groups is vulnerable to a First Amendment challenge in court.

Kim Foxx’s office strikes back against one of its former own

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 29, 2023

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) is appealing to a federal judge to expand its “scope of intervention” in a civil trial against former Assistant State’s Attorney Nick Trutenko,

Convicted cop killer Jackie Wilson’s wrongful conviction lawsuit dealt blow by ruling in criminal case against former prosecutor

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 20, 2023

A victory for former Cook County prosecutor Nick Trutenko in his criminal case surrounding the decades long legal saga of convicted cop-killer Jackie Wilson is spilling over to his civil cas

Torture commission ruling reveals legal vulnerability in pathway to wrongful conviction suits

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 17, 2023

For the past several years, the plaintiffs’ bar has relied on the Torture Inquiry & Relief Commission (TIRC) for a steady stream of wrongful conviction lawsuits stemming from claims that Chicago police coerced murder confessions

Hire more cops to not only increase public safety but boost morale among their numbers: experts

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 14, 2023

The city’s police complement is down 1,700 from 2019 when former Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office.

Judge blasts Kim Foxx’s office for threatening 'the very foundation for the practice of law'

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 10, 2023

A Lake County judge presiding over the criminal cases of two former Cook County assistant prosecutors, eviscerated special prosecutors representing the State’s Attorney’s Office, headed by Kim Foxx.

Little-known charitables are big players in third-party litigation targeting energy industry: analysis

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 9, 2023

Left-wing climate activists are quietly backing lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry to steer the country away from a dependence on affordable, reliable energy, a recent analysis by the watchdog group the Capital Research Center (CRC) shows.

Former detective fights off claims in wrongful conviction complaint - one that showcases the legal gymnastics behind the big payouts

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 7, 2023

Retired Chicago detective, Reynaldo Guevara, fended off accusations of police misconduct by plaintiff Arturo DeLeon-Reyes in an amended complaint involving 1998 murder of a husband and wife and the kidnapping of their children.

Fawning profile of exoneration lawyer typical of mainstream media coverage of the multi-million-dollar wrongful conviction industry

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 3, 2023

A recent WGN-TV profile of Josh Tepfer, a lawyer with the plantiffs’ firm of Loevy & Loevy, exemplifies mainstream media coverage of exoneration lawyers and their clients who blame their convictions on police misconduct.

Chicago arrests drop 82 percent in 10 years

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 2, 2023

Chicago is in line with other large American cities in the sharp drop in arrests over the past 10 years, reports The Center Square.

In blow to wrongful conviction industry, judge comes down hard on torture commission

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 31, 2023

An obscure 14-year-old commission that investigates claims of police torture, and has become a pipeline of lucrative wrongful conviction cases for plaintiffs’ attorneys, is “very perilous to our system,” a Will County judge has ruled.

Law on cops’ side in bid for arbitration in new contract

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 27, 2023

Mayor Johnson’s bid to isolate and squash an arbitration provision from a tentative police contract faces a tough legal road.

Cops furious over release of cop killer Carrasquillo

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 25, 2023

Chicago police are steaming over the release by an appellate judge of cop killer Ronnie Carrasquillo, who in 1976 ambushed and murdered police office Terrence Loftus, 36, in the Logan Square neighborhood.

Suspended white Chicago teacher files federal race discrimination complaint against Board of Education and fellow teachers over hanging doll incident

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 13, 2023

A suspended Chicago teacher, who is white, has filed a nine-count complaint in federal court against the Board of Education and four of his former colleagues, all Black, alleging battery and race discrimination surrounding an incident where a Bears football doll was found hanging in his classroom at the Whitney M. Young Magnet High School.

Future of 'torture relief commission' in balance as judge weights arguments challenging its authority

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 11, 2023

On October 20, Will County Judge David Carlson is expected to rule whether a commission created to investigate claims of police torture, the Torture Review & Relief Commission (TIRC), has the authority to refer cases, many of them decades-old murder cases, for new evidentiary hearings.

Kim Foxx’s office sued for not complying with 'exoneration' FOIA request

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 5, 2023

Chicago City Wire has filed two complaints against the Cook County State’s Attorney’s (CCSAO) office for not responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking details into why the office exonerated once convicted murderers, including two convicted of the brutal 1998 murder of a husband and wife and the kidnapping of their children in Bucktown.

Anti-police movement suffers setbacks in court

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 3, 2023

The recent acquittal of two police officers charged with unjustifiably shooting an unarmed man is a victory not just for them and their families, but also strengthens the argument that dozens of wrongful conviction cases targeting police are worth fighting in the courts over settling for multi-million-dollar amounts.

Suspended judge could be key witness at criminal trials of former Cook County prosecutors

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 27, 2023

Cook County Judge Williams Hooks, suspended in late June from judicial duties, could be called to testify in the criminal trials of former assistant prosecutors Andrew Horvat and Nick Trutenko scheduled to begin in mid-October, sources say.

COPA’s competency, authority again questioned over investigation into CPD migrant sex abuse allegations

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 25, 2023

After three months, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) has yet to find a witness to an alleged incident of sexual misconduct involving a Chicago Police officer and a migrant, leading former CPD Chief of Detectives Gene Roy to question COPA’s investigatory competency.

Former city detective to mount pushback campaign against ‘fleecing of taxpayers’ in wrongful conviction payouts

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 18, 2023

City Council’s approval this week of a $25 million payout to two men convicted of the 1993 murder college basketball star Marshall Morgan Jr. was about all that former Chicago Detective Kenneth Boudreau, who investigated the murder, could take.

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