Does anyone watch The Good Wife? The show is all about Illinois politics, crim justice and arguments of misconduct, fraud, lying in court, and other dirty tricks.
This next story is a roundabout of years worth of attack and counter-attack between the Chicago Prosecutor Anita Alvarez and litigators and investigators and law students associated with the NW IP and Medill Journalism school regarding a double murder case from decades ago. The “true crime” plot twist is that at times 2 separate men have been convicted for the same crime. They may have even met when one left prison and the other entered prison. Now the second guy is out.
At this stage of news releases and such, all I can say is that its a great story. She did her press announcement at a state prison while letting an innocent guy out (after a year long investigation). She never did that for all the other wrongful convictions that have cost Illinois over $500,000,000 in settlements and jury awards (look it up at http://www.bettergov.org).
All these players have been slamming each other for decades regarding numerous wrongful convictions in the court jurisdictions surrounding Chicago. Ive been involved in post conviction litigation involving 3 cases of this type in Chi-town. All 3 as a defense expert regarding the mistakes and junk science of AAFS/ABFO forensic dentists. I’m sure this prosecutor’s strategy slap at the NW IP will start to be copied elsewhere. In fact, I know it has. More on that in the future.
Chicago Trib October 31, 2014
“I’m not here to criticize my predecessor,” said Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez Thursday, speaking to reporters about her dramatic decision to release prison inmate Alstory Simon.
Indeed she was not. She was there to criticize others — the journalism professor who in 1998 launched an investigation into Simon’s possible involvement in a 1982 double murder; the private detective who took the first of Simon’s many confessions to those murders; and the attorney who represented Simon at his sentencing.
That crew, she said, used “a series of alarming tactics” in an effort “so flawed that it’s clear the constitutional rights of Mr. Simon were not scrupulously protected.”
OK. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that they did.
The Daily Northwestern news service counters in this article with an opinion of this conflict.
October 31, 2014
Murder conviction of Alstory Simon overturned after doubts shed on Protess investigation
The Cook County state’s attorney vacated the double-murder conviction of Alstory Simon on Thursday, raising questions about an investigation assisted by former Medill Prof. David Protess.
Protess led the Medill Innocence Project, whose landmark investigation resulted in the release of Anthony Porter from death row.
Porter, who was convicted for killing two teenagers in 1982, was released from prison in 1999. Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan cited Porter’s case when he initiated the suspension of the death penalty in the state.
As part of its investigation, the Medill Innocence Project said Simon was guilty of the killings. Simon was later convicted of the crime and sentenced to 37 years in prison.
However, on Thursday, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez released Simon from prison and raised questions about the integrity of Protess and his students’ investigation. The Innocence Project worked with Paul Ciolino, a private investigator, who obtained a video of Simon confessing to the murder.
From 3 years ago…
A Watchdog Professor, Now Defending Himself
The third side of the coin has been in the news for 3 or more years. 2011 is when co-founder of the NW Innocence Project and a Medill School of Journalism prof David Protess expresses his new role as a target for the Illinois State Prosecutor’s Office.
and here…………… This onehas a great headline. Written by Protess himself.
FORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends 