Chicago City Wire

Two recent legal developments show that the exoneration industry, with the prospect of big paydays for once convicted murderers and their attorneys, is going strong in Cook County.

On March 7, an appeals court ordered a new trial for George Anderson, convicted of the 1991 murders of two children in the Englewood section, over claims his confession was forced.

And this week, a Cook County Circuit Court judge pushed back consideration of Certificates of Innocence (COI) for brothers Reginald Henderson and Sean Tyler, convicted of the 1994 murder of a ten-year-old. They likewise claim their confessions were forced.

A COI is a near guarantee for settlement money from the city in a wrongful conviction case.

Both cases were investigated by detectives who worked under former Commander Jon Burge, convicted in 2011 on perjury charges over allegations that he tortured prisoners. Burge died in 2018. The detectives under him have been named in additional, similar lawsuits

The appellate court ruing in the Anderson case overturned a 2020 ruling by Cook County Circuit Judge William Hooks, who accused Anderson of riding on the “Burge torture bus.”

In his order, Hooks said that Anderson had provided no medical evidence to show injuries from the alleged beatings.

Hooks also said that that Anderson’s claims of abuse were a “failed attempt to paint himself as a victim” of police torture. He denied Anderson’s claims of abuse and denied to vacate his conviction.

In addition, Hooks wrote that no evidence exists in the Anderson case, or any others, that detectives, two of whom are former partners Kenneth Boudreau and Jack Halloran, ever abused Anderson, or any other suspects cited as examples by Anderson’s lawyers.

For an earlier story, Boudreau said that he has been unfairly painted as a Burge protégé.

But Boudreau notes he only worked under Burge for a few months, and had almost no contact with his former supervisor.

“We had 300 detectives in Area 3,” he said. “I was never even in an interview room with him.”

By one estimate, city taxpayers have shelled out $130 million in wrongful conviction cases over alleged forced confessions.