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

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a pardon from the governor, even a pardon declaring innocence, does not automatically clear a criminal record. The person receiving the pardon would still have to petition a trial court to expunge the conviction, which the court has the discretion to do or not do. The major issue the Supreme Court dealt with was whether the legislature gave the courts the authority to expunge a record. The Court held that the lawmakers have certainly done that. As such, the circuit courts have the discretion to clear the record or not, even if the Governor declares someone innocent.The Case arouse out of the petition of Stanley Howard and Dana Holland.  Both Howard and Holland received innocence pardons.  See the full Illinois Supreme Court Opinion.   

 

 

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Judge James F. Holderman has denied plaintiffs' consolidated motion to enforce settlement and for sanctions brought by plaintiffs Madison Hobley and Leroy Orange. Plaintiffs had alleged that as of November 3, 2006, attorneys representing the City of Chicago entered into an oral settlement agreement with plaintiffs' counsel but refused to honor the settlement. Judge Holderman stated that "the court finds that there was no final settlement agreement because the proposed agreement was never approved by the Chicago City Council, a contingency all parties' counsel agree was extant and unfulfilled." Plaintiff had contended that the parties had agreed to settle three lawsuits (Madison Hobley, Leroy Orange, and Stanley Howard) for $14.8 million. The court also denied the plaintiffs' motion for sanctions.

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The Illinois State Appellate Court has issued an opinion reversing the circuit court of cook county's denial of Stanley Howard's petition to expunge records of his arrest for a crime for which he was pardoned by Governor Ryan. Howard was arrested on November 1, 1984 by Chicago police officers for a number of crimes, including murder, attempted robbery, and kidnapping. Howard was tried for the various crimes and was found guilty of the attempted robbery and murder charges and was sentenced to death. In post conviction proceedings, Howard claimed his confession at trial on the murder charge resulted from police torture. On January 10, 2003, prior to resolution of his post conviction claim, Howard received a full pardon from Governor Ryan based on innocence. Howard subsequently petitioned to expunge the record of his arrest for his murder conviction under subsection 5(c) of the Criminal Identification Act (20 ILCS 2630/5(c)). The State objected to Howard's request, contending the Criminal Identification Act did not permit expungement of arrest records when the petitioner had other convictions.  The circuit court denied Howard's petition for expungement. On appeal, the court reversed, finding that the legislature intended for the wrongfully convicted to receive automatic expungements.

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Attorneys for Madison Hobley, Stanley Howard and Leroy Orange claim in recently filed court papers that the City of Chicago is refusing to honor a collective $14.8 million settlement. The City of Chicago denies that such a settlement was reached and has stated that all settlement talks have been confidential. Hobley, Howard and Orange claim in their federal court lawsuits that they were tortured by former Chicago detective Jon Burge.  A Special Prosecutor report released last July, however, stated that Special Prosecutors did not believe Orange had been tortured and were skeptical of Hobley and Howard's claims.

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