Chicago City Wire

A special prosecutor retrired Gerald Reed last week in a Cook County court for a 1990 double murder on the South Side even though Reed, if convicted, will serve no time in prison for the crime. Reed already spent 30 years in prison for his role in the murders of Pamela Powers and Willie Williams before Gov. JB Pritzker commuted his sentence in 2021 to time served.

In pursuing the case, Special Prosecutor Robert Milan, is in part making it more difficult for Reed to later petition for and receive a Certificate of Innocence (COI), some former assistant prosecutors say.

Even if Reed is found not guilty, evidence of his guilt that comes out in the trial could hurt his chances of getting a COI.

“Bob [Milan] is not standing idle while the truth and facts are completely twisted by the defendant and the victims forgotten,” said one former prosecutor familiar with the case who asked to remain anonymous.

“A collateral benefit of trying the case is the trial evidence could hinder someone who committed a crime from possibly financial benefit if they are acquitted. Otherwise crime literally pays.”

In opening statements on Monday before Judge Steven Watkins, Milan argued that Reed and co-defendant David Turner “executed” both Powers and her friend Willie Williams, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Milan further said that the bullets recovered from both victims were fired from a gun that Turner had handled a couple of weeks before the shooting.

Witness Mia Grover testified that the last time she saw Powers was with Reed and she “looked terrified.”

Reed has accused detectives of beating him into confessing to the crime. David Turner never claimed police torture and remains in jail, serving a life sentence.

Reed is likely to petition for a COI and file a wrongful conviction lawsuit in federal court, if Judge Watkins finds him not guilty.

A COI is typically brought in tandem with a wrongful conviction lawsuit filed in federal court. The granting of a COI is a near guarantee of a multi-million-dollar settlement, even though it doesn’t necessarily prove innocence.

In at least one notorious case involving the 1998 murder of a husband and wife in Bucktown, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, headed by Kim Foxx, was willing to admit that COIs did not mean that the two men convicted of the murders were innocent.

In the case, Foxx in November 2021 dropped opposition to COIs for Gabriel Solache and Arturo DeLeon-Reyes, convicted of the murders of Mariano and Jacinta Soto, and the abduction of their children.

In order to prevent the deposition of one of her assistants in the wrongful conviction cases later filed by Solaches and Reyes, Foxx was willing to admit the dropping of opposition to the COIs “did not reflect a final determination that either Petitioner Solache or Petitioner Reyes was innocent.”

Since the Reed case is being retried by a special prosecutor, Foxx will have no input if Reed later petitions for a COI.

Judge Watkins said he will announced his decision on Reed next month.

Meanwhile, Reed is serving out another sentence for a robbery conviction in Indiana.