PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "A Cook County judge is giving the Chicago Police Department until the end of the year to turn over nearly five decades’ worth of previously unreleased files related to allegations of misconduct by officers. The order was issued Friday in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed against the city by Charles Green, who served more than two decades in prison after being convicted in a quadruple murder on the West Side in the 1980s. In 2015, six years after his release, Green filed a FOIA request with the city asking for copies of any and all closed complaint register files from 1967 to 2015. The request was made, Green’s attorney said, “in order to help him discover evidence of his innocence and to preserve and disseminate evidence of innocence to others wrongfully convicted."
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STORY: "Judge orders CPD to turn over 48 years’ worth of misconduct files," by Reporter Sam Charles, published by The Sun Times on January 10, 2020. (This story relates Charles Green's battle to obtain the police misconduct files so he can hold the police responsible. In a 'background section below (following this story) , you will find the facts of the case - the facts behind his false confession and concealment by police of exculpatory evidence - which have motivated him to fight to clear his name.
SUB-HEADING: "Judge Alison Conlon ordered the CPD (Chicago Police Department)
to produce all misconduct files from 1967 to 2015 by the end of 2020,
noting that the CPD had “willfully and intentionally failed to comply”
with the Illinois Freedom of Information Act."
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2020/1/10/21060825/chicago-police-misconduct-files-judge-court-order-freedom-of-information
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BACKGROUND:
STORY: "Former inmate fighting for release of CPD misconduct files," by reporter Ben Bradley and WGN-TV investigates, published by WGN on August 9, 2019.
GIST: "Charles Green was sentenced to life in prison as a teenager, for a crime he says he didn’t do. Now a free man, he stands at the center of a major legal case involving the possible release of Chicago police misconduct records dating back to the late 1960s. His story begins in 1985 when police arrested him for a quadruple murder on the West Side. Green, then 16, was accused of accepting $25 to knock on the door of a drug dealer’s apartment so rivals could enter and kill the people inside. Green claims his confession was coerced by police after being “held in isolation for multiple days and repeatedly interrogated.” He believed “if he complied with police officers they would allow him to see his family and go home,” according to legal filings. Green walked out of prison in 2009 after a judge reduced his sentence amid questions about police tactics and why eyewitness testimony that could’ve helped Green was not allowed to be heard at trial. Green has spent the last decade fighting to clear his name. As part of that effort, his attorney, Jared Kosoglad, sent an open records request to Chicago Police, asking for “closed complaint register files,” or records of officer misconduct. Not just those involving police on Green’s case – but the entire department going back to 1967. Activists have argued for the release of complaint files, but most have remained hidden. Legal experts say police could have argued Green’s request was overly burdensome. But the department didn’t respond, in violation of state law, and Green filed a lawsuit. A Cook County judge has now ordered the city to release to release four years’ worth of records and submit a schedule for the release of the remaining files. But Kosoglad says the city has turned over just 100 files. A spokesman for the city Department of Law says the Lightfoot Administration is asking the judge to reconsider the decision to order the release of the files. In a statement, he said:
“The City of Chicago is committed to the highest level of transparency and responds to tens of thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests every year, including requests regarding allegations against Chicago Police officers. This request is different, however, as it seeks every Complaint Register file created since 1967 – approximately 175,000 files, each of which contain dozens to hundreds of pages. The City is currently involved in litigation regarding this request, and the matter is still pending before the court. Complying with this request would present numerous challenges, including millions of dollars in costs and expended public resources."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/wgntv.com/2019/08/08/former-inmate-fighting-for-release-of-cpd-misconduct-files/amp/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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 Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.""
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20191210/da-drops-murder-charge-against-taunton-man-who-served-35-years-for-1979-slaying
