COPA and CPD continue to hide details about its investigation in violation of the Freedom of Information Act CHICAGO – The City’s long-running Sgt. Ronald Watts scandal took a new turn today as one of his victims sued the city for its failure to release its own full report on the Chicago police officers who… Read More
SEATTLE, WA – The family of MiChance Dunlap-Gittens, a 17-year-old Black youth killed in 2017 by suburban Seattle sheriff’s deputies as they fired shots into the rear of his body, late today filed a federal lawsuit against King County, Washington and County Sheriff’s Deputies Det. Michael Garske, Sgt. Todd Miller, Det. Joseph Eshom and Det.… Read More
Illinois led the nation in exonerations last year for wrongful convictions; Robert Bouto was one of those exonerees Bouto was 17 years old when he was wrongly put behind bars for more than half of his life CHICAGO – Robert Bouto, who spent more than half of his life in prison thanks to a frame-up… Read More
Victor Rosario Attempted to Save the Victims of a House Fire, But Instead Was Wrongfully Convicted of Causing Their Accidental Deaths LOWELL, MA – Victor Rosario, a man who spent 32 years, more than half of his life in prison for crimes he didn’t commit, today filed state and federal lawsuits against Lowell, MA police… Read More
Journalist Brandon Smith Asks Court to Hold Current & Former CPD Officers in Contempt Courts have repeatedly ruled that use of private email accounts for City business are subject to FOIA disclosures CHICAGO – Independent journalist Brandon Smith today filed motions to hold several top current and former Chicago Police Officials in contempt of court… Read More
Lawsuits allege code of silence and come in the wake of the first mass exoneration in Chicago history This morning fifteen men whose convictions were overturned each filed separate lawsuits against the City of Chicago, high-ranking supervisors with the Chicago Police Department (CPD), recently imprisoned former Chicago police sergeant Ronald Watts, and members of Watts’… Read More
Thomas Sierra was 19-years-old when he was wrongly put behind bars for more than half of his life. CHICAGO – The parade of once-young victims speaking out against gross Chicago police misconduct grew one stronger today as Thomas Sierra, a man who spent more than half his life wrongfully behind bars, sued the City of… Read More
By Maya Dukmasova, Chicago Reader Photo by Rich Hein, Chicago Sun-Times On Monday, April 23, within hours of Democratic state rep Anthony Deluca filing a bill to amend Illinois’s Freedom of Information law, a crescendo of opposition arose from civil rights lawyers and government transparency advocates. The amendment would’ve made misconduct complaints against police officers… Read More
This month, the Supreme Court decided Kisela v. Hughes, a case that makes it even more difficult to hold police officers accountable for unlawfully shooting the people they are supposed to serve and protect. Police officers are almost never meaningfully investigated, much less disciplined, by their fellow law enforcement agencies for shooting people. And they’re even… Read More
Jailed at age 17, George Perrot is one of the longest-imprisoned, wrongfully convicted people in nation’s history January 25, 2018 – Boston, MA – Attorneys for George Perrot, who suffered one of the longest wrongful imprisonments in the nation’s history, today sued the City of Springfield, MA, an assistant district attorney, and numerous Springfield police… Read More
