Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit Defense Blog : Wrongful Conviction Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Andrew M. Hale Law Firm

As previously reported,  lawyers for McKinney sought to distance themselves from the students who allegedly used improper influence - paying and flirting  - over witnesses to get them to give statements that would exonerate McKinney.  

According to news reports, A judge today accepted a request from a man convicted of a 1978 murder to drop much of the controversial evidence pointing to his innocence that was dug up by Northwestern University journalism students. Judge Diane Gordon Cannon agreed to drop the evidence from a motion for a new trial filed by Anthony McKinney. She asked that McKinney sign an affidavit stating he understood the consequences, explaining that he is being treated in a psychiatric ward....The judge in the case has not yet ruled on the subpoena, but Karen Daniel, McKinney's lawyer, has said the more important issue at hand is whether her client was wrongfully convicted. Daniel said she believed dropping much of the questioned evidence would render moot the subpoena, but prosecutors have disagreed. They say all the evidence being used in the battle to get McKinney a new trial was part of the Medill Innocence Project's investigation.

We agree - the entire investigation is at issue. What is Northwestern trying to hide? 

 

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In a recent court opinion, issued by United States District Court Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys in Bell v. City of Chicago, Chicago Police Department CR files were deemed protected from public disclosure. Judge Keys explained "the newly-amended FOIA expressly exempts from disclosure records relating to disciplinary adjudications." Section 7(1)(n) of the 2010 FOIA per se exempts from disclosure:  

Records relating to a public body's adjudication of employee grievances or disciplinary cases; however, this exemption shall not extend to the final outcome of cases in which discipline is imposed.

The Court explained that it need not address the "privacy considerations" of the officers because the 2010 FOIA trumps all.  As for the overstated contention that the "public's need to access the record outweighs any interest the Defendants may have in maintaining their confidentiality," Judge Keys cited language from the recent Seventh Circuit decision in Bond v. Utreras, where the Court explained “pretrial discovery, unlike the trial itself, is usually conducted in private.”

Geri Lynn Yanow of the Corporation Counsel's Office represents the defendants and Melinda Power represents the plaintiff

 

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In a 12 page opinion issued yesterday, Judge Jeffrey Cole denied plaintiff's motion to compel case files from defense expert Arthur Young.  Plaintiff sought documents in 10-15 cases in which Mr. Young conducted Absorption/Inhibition testing.  Mr. Young has opined that defendant Raymond Lenz's inconclusive findings in the Jerry Miller testing were appropriate.  Plaintiff contends that Mr. Young does not use appropriate methods in interpreting and lacks proficiency in Absorption/Inhibition testing.   Plaintiff provided no evidence to support that and their motion was rejected.  

The case is set for trial on February 22, 2010 before United States District Judge Suzanne Conlon.   

As previously reported,  the police officer defendants were dismissed from the lawsuit after Judge Conlon found that the police did not fabricate any evidence against Jerry Miller and that this was an unfortunate case of eyewitness misidentification.    

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In a 42-page Memorandum Opinion And Order dated October 20, 2006, Judge Ruben Castillo of the Northern District of Illinois granted Robert Wilson's petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 USC 2254. Wilson had been convicted of attacking 24-year old June Siler at a bus stop in Chicago on February 28, 1997. Siler's throat was slit with a box cutter. Wilson had signed a written confession on March 3, 1997. Prior to trial, Wilson filed a motion in limine seeking permission to present evidence to the jury regarding the crime spree of 21-year old Jerryco Wagner, who had been attacking white victims at bus stops during this same time period. The trial court denied that motion. However, Judge Castillo found that "[t]he evidence proffered by Petitioner showed that Wagner admitted committing five unprovoked stabbing attacks on white people within a two-week period and within a roughly one mile radius of the attack on Siler." In granting the petition, Judge Castillo held that "[i]n sum, balancing the state court's apparent justification for excluding the Wagner evidence against the significance of this evidence to Petitioner's case, we conclude that the state court's exclusion of the evidence violated Petitioner's Sixth Amendment right to present a complete defense." Judge Castillo further ordered that "Respondent shall release Petitioner unless the State of Illinois initiates proceedings to retry him within 90 days of the date of this order."

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