Ronald Kitchen:
Back in 2002, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office filed People's Response In Opposition To Petition For Executive Clemency
Here are some highlights from the State's opposition to executive clemency:
* "As of August 26, 1988, petitioner and c-defendant Marvin Reeves were in custody on the basis of information provided by Willie Williams, a long-time friend of both petitioner and Reeves. Petitioner and Reeves worked for a major narcotics supplier, and Williams would help them deliver drugs to their sellers (and collect the money owed to them), including on a regular basis Rose Marie and Deborah."
* "Shortly after the murders, while Williams was an inmate at the Illinois Department of Corrections, he twice called petitioner (on August 1 and 5, 1988). In each of those conversations, petitioner said that he and Reeves had strangled Rose Marie to death, and suffocated Deborah and the three children with a pillow, because the women owed them $1,225 for drugs."
* Late in the evening of August 25, 1988, petitioner was arrested and brought into Area 3 police headquarters for questioning. Petition gave an oral statement to the detectives incriminating himself and Reeves in the murders. Petitioner later agreed to give a handwritten statement to an Assistant State's Attorney."
* "At around 6:00 p.m. on the day of the murder, Victor Guajardo, Jr., who lived in the home next to the Sepulvedas, saw an older model, yellow, two-door car parked in front of the Sepulveda home. The car was positively identified as the one driven by Reeves."
* "During the State's rebuttal, Detective Michael Kill testified that on August 25, 1988, Eric Wilson, petitioner's cousin, came to the police station. According to Detective Kill, on August 1, 1988, Reeves told Wilson that he and petitioner 'had killed some people who lived on the other side of Western because they owed them some money.'"
"Williams testified at trial that at no time was he promised any sort of leniency from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office."
"Petitioner's claim that Williams learned about the facts of the crime from a July 27, 1988 Chicago Tribune news article fails because Williams told the police two facts which only the killer could have known and that were not in the article: that four of the five victims were suffocated and the Deborah and Rose were dealing in narcotics (confirmed by the narcotics dog search)."
* "the Illinois Supreme Court noted the 'substantial evidence' presented by the People at the motion to suppress, including four Chicago police officers each testified that petitioner had not been beaten and had given his confession voluntarily."
* "This Court further noted that the Felony Review Assistant State's Attorney also testified that he did not see any of the police officers physically strike, threaten, or assault defendant.
* This Court went on to note: 'Most importantly, a videotape was presented at the suppression hearing which showed [petitioner's] exit from the police station to the police wagon. In the videotape, [petitioner] was walking normally and not limping in any manner, nor did he show any visible signs of injury."
* "Louis Gregory Simmons, a paramedic at the receiving station for the Cook County Department of Corrections Cermak Hospital, testified that on August 27, 1988, he examined petitioner as part of the intake screening process. Mr. Simmons did not observe any injuries to petitioner's body."
* [Leslie] Jenkins also testified that although she had visited her brother in jail over 10 times following his arrest, she did not inform anyone regarding her first-hand knowledge of the alibi until the eve of trial (two years later)."
Is the State now saying that all of this evidence is no longer valid?
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