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

In 2005, Maria Guzman filed a civil rights lawsuit against Chicago police officers claiming her home was illegally searches and she was unlawfully detained.  Police officers had a valid search warrant. The search warrant was for a single family residence.  After being in Guzman's home for twenty minutes, police officers realized that it was not a single family residence as it appeared from outside - so they left.  Defendants won summary judgment, but the case was reversed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court held that the search was illegal because the officers should have known they were not in a single family home and left earlier.  

At her damages trial, Guzman claimed she was "emotionally distressed" by these twenty minutes. Guzman claimed police put her unborn baby into distress and caused her to have contractions when she was only thirty weeks pregnant. Guzman asked the the jury for thousands of dollars in "medical expenses" and unspecified damages for "emotional distress."  

The jury saw right through it all and came back in under two hours  with a $1 verdict for the "technical violation."

Mary McCahill, Anne Preston, and Tom Platt of the Corporation Counsel's Office represented the police officers.

Larry Jackowiak, Louis Meyer, and Adele Nicholas represented Guzman.

Another great result!!!  

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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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WNUR News - Northwestern University's student-run radio will be airing an open discussion tonight to address the allegations being made against the Medill Innocence Project. 

 As previously posted, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office has subpoenaed the journalism students for all their documents related to the Anthony McKinney investigation. The States Attorney is also see king the student's course outline and grade information.   The State has evidence that students paid witnesses in exchange for their testimony,  The Students, presumably, deny these allegations.  

The question tonight will be: Are the State's requests reasonable? Can the students legally hide behind a reporter's  privilege?  Should they be able to hide this information?  Can students pick and choose what information they disclose to prosecutors?  What are the implications of such actions? What does it say about the Medill Innocence Project? What's wrong with just putting all the cards on the table and seeking the truth? 

A lot of questions.....tune in tonight to hear the panelists weigh in. 

PANELIST BIOS:

Professor Jack Doppelt

Medill School of Journalism
Focuses on, among other topics, Law and Media Ethics

Mr. Avi T Kamionski

Associate of Andrew M. Hale Law Firm in Chicago
Concentrates practice in Civil Rights Litigation

Professor Laura Beth Nielsen

Director of Legal Studies Department, Northwestern
Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology
Research Fellow, American Bar Foundation
 

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