PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The lawsuit also claims Benitez was coerced into a false confession that was later used against him at trial. Bogucki and Schalk obtained that confession "through a psychologically abusive interrogation in which they repeatedly rejected Plaintiff's denials and his alibi, threatened him, and eventually promised him that if he signed a statement confessing to a version of events they provided to him, he could go home to his family," according to the lawsuit. "The confession statement was obviously false. It was a bizarre, rambling story that did not comport with the known facts of the crime," the lawsuit states. "Defendants' promise that Plaintiff would be released if he signed the statement was also false. Instead, they charged Plaintiff with murder."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Swaminathan said Bogucki and Schalk have been accused of framing others." In 2012, a federal jury awarded Thaddeus "T.J." Jimenez $25 million in damages in a wrongful conviction lawsuit against Bogucki and Schalk according to court records. Bogucki and Schalk are no longer on the force. Jimenez was later convicted of shooting another gang member in 2015, after prosecutors said he used the $25 million award on his gang, the Simon City Royals, and to recruit members of another gang, the Vice Lords."
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STORY: "Francisco Benitez sues city, two former CPD detectives over wrongful murder conviction," by Reporter Todd Feurer, published by CBS Nees on December 19, 2023.
(Todd Feurer is a web producer at CBS News Chicago. He has previously written for WBBM Newsradio, WUIS-FM, and the New City News Service.)
GIST: "A man has filed a federal lawsuit against the city and two Chicago police officers, after he spent 34 years wrongfully imprisoned for murder.
Francisco Benitez was 18 years old when he was arrested in 1989, and charged with the murders of two teenagers, Willaim Sanchez and Prudencio Cruz, but Benitez has said he was innocent all these years.
In August of this year, he was released after presenting substantial evidence proving his innocence. Two eyewitnesses now say they saw who actually committed the murders, and it wasn't Benitez.
Benitez's attorney, Anand Swaminathan, said those witnesses were afraid to come forward until recently because of what could happen to them.
"Those boys came forward now, and told the story of who committed this crime, and no witness ever identified Frankie Benitez as the shooter," he said. "There is no witness who at trial ever said they had seen the shooting, or even saw a gun, who identified Frankie Benitez. So those two boys gave very powerful evidence demonstrating that, in fact, the real shooters are two other individuals, and that the evidence used against Frankie Benitez was all fabricated. It was fake, it was made up, and it was used to put a case on a young man, because they couldn't figure out who had actually done it."
In September, Cook County prosecutors formally dropped the charges against him.
On Tuesday, he filed a federal lawsuit accusing former detectives Jerome Bogucki and Raymond Schalk of framing him for murder.
Bogucki and Schalk are no longer on the force.
The lawsuit also claims Benitez was coerced into a false confession that was later used against him at trial.
Bogucki and Schalk obtained that confession "through a psychologically abusive interrogation in which they repeatedly rejected Plaintiff's denials and his alibi, threatened him, and eventually promised him that if he signed a statement confessing to a version of events they provided to him, he could go home to his family," according to the lawsuit.
"The confession statement was obviously false. It was a bizarre, rambling story that did not comport with the known facts of the crime," the lawsuit states. "Defendants' promise that Plaintiff would be released if he signed the statement was also false. Instead, they charged Plaintiff with murder."
Swaminathan said Bogucki and Schalk have been accused of framing others.
In 2012, a federal jury awarded Thaddeus "T.J." Jimenez $25 million in damages in a wrongful conviction lawsuit against Bogucki and Schalk according to court records. Bogucki and Schalk are no longer on the force.
Jimenez was later convicted of shooting another gang member in 2015, after prosecutors said he used the $25 million award on his gang, the Simon City Royals, and to recruit members of another gang, the Vice Lords."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
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;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-123488014
