Chicago City Wire

On December 8, just two days after being named head of Kim Foxx’s Conviction Review Unit, Michelle Mbekeani appeared before a Cook County judge “on behalf of the people” in the post-conviction case of Brian Beals, convicted in the 1988 murder of a six-year-old boy.

Representing Beals that day was attorney Laura Nirider, who is in business with Mbekeani; she is listed as an advisor on Periodsentence.com, Mbekeani’s side business that connects inmates claiming innocence with defense attorneys.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, the Conviction Review Unit had earlier agreed with a motion filed by Nirider seeking the Beals exoneration. 

Four days later, Judge Ursula Walowski vacated the conviction. After 37 years in prison, 57-year-old Beals was a free man.

Just a month later, Mbekeani would be called out by Cook County Judge Michael McHale in a separate post-conviction case for her role as Founder/CEO of Period. Mbekeani was effectively working both sides of the legal system, Judge McHale said.

“A Prosecutor takes an oath to be an advocate of the victims of crimes, and families of the victims of crime,” the judge said during a January 8 hearing. “Our criminal courts work as an adversarial system. We have defense attorneys representing the accused on one side, and we're supposed to have a prosecutor representing the People on the other. When those roles become entangled and blurred, as they most certainly were in this case, the public loses trust and confidence in our criminal justice system. It creates an appearance that something unethical is occurring.”

Judge McHale barred Mbekeani from his courtroom on the case, and all future cases.

After Chicago City Wire first reported on Mbekeani’s business on December 7, Periodsentence.com was closed to public access.

But Mbekeani agreed with Judge McHale’s assessment during the hearing that the website was still accessible to “owners or contributors.”

Foxx’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comments on Mbekeani’s role as both prosecutor and owner of a business that helps inmates claiming innocence to find lawyers to take on their cases.

But after the Beals ruling, Foxx’s office release a statement saying that the decision “marks the first major achievement of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office's (CCSAO) newly rebranded Conviction Review Unit. The case of Mr. Beals highlights the critical need for this work, as the Office strives to restore faith in the criminal justice system and ensure that justice is served with integrity and fairness.”