"Throughout the hearing, Biebel told the defense that he was struggling over the four men's confessions to the crime. He asked for evidence that the confessions were coerced.
Attorneys for the men said Douglas' DNA proves the confessions were false, and that the four men's youth at the time made them vulnerable to coercion, even if it was unintentional on the part of police. They also said the confessions differed on some key details.
Biebel said he would rule next month."
Reporter Melissa Jenco: The Chicago Tribune;
---------------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND: The four were convicted of the murder and rape of Nina Glover, 30, largely on the basis of confessions they made to police and prosecutors, even though primitive DNA testing at the time excluded them as the source of semen evidence. But new testing links Johnny Douglas to Glover's rape and murder, according to court papers filed ... in Cook County Circuit Court. Before his own violent death, Douglas was charged with the murders of two other women after Glover's homicide; he was convicted of one and acquitted of the other. And Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors suspected him in other murders as well and questioned him in several sexual assaults, though he was never charged in those, according to attorneys. (Chicago Tribune);
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Terrill Swift showed little emotion Monday as he listened to attorneys argue over whether his conviction for a 1994 rape and murder should be overturned, but when a Cook County judge held off his ruling, Swift's frustration was unmistakable," the Chicago Tribune story by reporter Melissa Jenco published on October 11, 2011 under the heading, "Four men hope DNA will overturn 1994 convictions," begins.
""I've been waiting on justice for 17 years, and I'm still waiting," he said as he rejoined family members outside the courtroom of Criminal Court Presiding Judge Paul Biebel Jr.," the story continues.
"Swift and three others — Michael Saunders, Harold Richardson and Vincent Thames — hope new DNA evidence will clear them of the rape and murder of 30-year-old Nina Glover in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. Richardson and Saunders are still serving time.
Though most of the Criminal Courts Building was closed for Columbus Day, Biebel held a three-hour hearing on the case.
Joshua Tepfer, an attorney at Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, said a recent DNA test linked Johnny Douglas to Glover's murder. Before he was shot to death in 2008, Douglas was convicted of murdering one woman, acquitted of a second homicide and was a suspect in other murders and sexual assaults.
Tepfer said Glover's murder followed Douglas' "pattern and practice" of strangling prostitutes during a sexual encounter.
He also said that no semen evidence linked the four convicted defendants — all teens at the time of the murder — to the crime.
Tepfer argued that even though all four confessed to the murder, the trial would have ended differently if the judge knew the DNA belonged to Douglas.
However, Assistant State's Attorney Mark Ertler said the new evidence was "not significant enough to merit new trials."
Glover, he said, was known to exchange sex for drugs, so it was "not surprising" she came in contact with Douglas and "other unsavory characters." Douglas' DNA wasn't necessarily left on Glover at the time of her murder, Ertler contended.
Ertler also argued that if Douglas had killed Glover, he probably wouldn't have been at the scene when the body was found. Ertler also noted that in the murder for which he was later convicted, Douglas left the body at the crime scene — not wrapped in a sheet and moved to a different location, as Glover's body was.
Swift also led police to a lagoon where they found a shovel they believed was used to strike Glover, along with the handle of a mop that may have been used to clean the crime scene, Ertler said.
Throughout the hearing, Biebel told the defense that he was struggling over the four men's confessions to the crime. He asked for evidence that the confessions were coerced.
Attorneys for the men said Douglas' DNA proves the confessions were false, and that the four men's youth at the time made them vulnerable to coercion, even if it was unintentional on the part of police. They also said the confessions differed on some key details.
Biebel said he would rule next month."
The story can be found at:http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-dna-hearing-20111011,0,4835834.story
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
