Garrard McClendon "Rips" On The State's Payout To Ronald Kitchen and Marvin Reeves - Why Assume They Are Innocent?
CLTV's, Garrard McClendon is very critical of the state's compensation scheme of the wrongfully imprisoned. Along with attorney Matt Belcher, McClendon finds it "unreal" that the State of Illinois caps out their compensation at $190,000 for Reeves and Kitchen.
Why is he so quick to conclude they are innocent? Why credit Kitchen's torture allegations?
As previously posted on July 9, 2009, Kitchen's allegation of being beaten are nothing new and were addressed by the Illinois Supreme Court . According to the Court:
At the motion to suppress statements, the State presented the testimony of four Chicago police officers, each of whom testified that defendant was not beaten and that his confession was voluntary. Assistant State's Attorney Mark Lukanich also testified that he did not see any of the police officers physically strike, threaten, or assault defendant. Most importantly, a videotape was presented at the suppression hearing which showed defendant's exit from the police station to the police wagon. In the videotape, defendant 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."
Hmm... perhaps there is more to the story....
Why should we assume innocence? Because that's the basic presumption which underlines our entire legal system. The burden is on the Illinois Attorney General's office to prove guilt -- and they did not have the evidence to even bring charges (yet Kitchen spent 20 years in prison). We can try to gray the situation, but there's really no ambiguity.