Black and Brown judges in Cook County Democratic Party are just like Corrupt Police Sgt Ronald Watts they prey and destroy their own ethnic groups worse than and Racist Judge or Police officer in Chicago.
Their wrongful convictions tossed, 19 sue Chicago, corrupt cop: 'This case illustrates what the code of silence is'
Elvia MalagonChicago Tribune
Octayvia McDonald was 17 and pregnant when she was first arrested by disgraced Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts and his crew while visiting relatives at the now shuttered Ida B. Wells housing complex.
It was May 2005 and McDonald was with her sister visiting an aunt, when officers stormed into the apartment, according to court records. As they asked why Watts was searching the apartment, she and her sister were arrested. Months later, Watts and his crew again arrested McDonald at the housing complex, with Watts allegedly saying “he had already promised to frame her,” according to court records. She went to jail and was eventually sentenced to probation on a drug charge, according to court records.
“I never had time to even bond with my family, my child’s father due to the fact of me being pregnant, and, you know, it kind of made it hard for my life,” McDonald said Friday during a news conference.
She is among dozens of people who have recently had their Watts-related convictions tossed out. She and 18 men went a step further in clearing their name this week by filing federal lawsuits against Watts, the city of Chicago and other Chicago police officers involved in their arrests.
The lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court, echo what proponents of police reform have long alleged about a “code of silence,” where officers protect each other to avoid accountability for wrongdoing. City officials declined to comment Friday morning, saying city attorneys had not yet received the lawsuits.
“We’ve heard the term ‘code of silence’ associated with the city of Chicago, this case illustrates what the code of silence is,” said Jon Loevy, whose law firm filed the federal lawsuits. “These officers were stealing, robbing and ruining people’s lives and other officers saw it and nobody did anything about it.”
About three dozen people exonerated of drug charges have so far filed lawsuits against Watts and other officers, Loevy said. The 19 people who filed the federal lawsuits this week are a fraction of those who in recent years had their drug-related convictions overturned.
Just this week, a Cook County judge tossed out the convictions of 10 men during a Monday hearing. By Wednesday, the convictions of four other men were tossed out.
A total of 63 people have had Watts-related convictions tossed out. Joshua Tepfer, an attorney with the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School, said earlier this week that there are about three dozen more cases from the Watts era that attorneys have submitted to prosecutors for review.
The cases all revolved around the former Ida B. Wells public housing complex on the South Side. Watts and officers who worked with him were accused of operating a protection racket, forcing residents, visitors and drug dealers to pay up or face false charges.
In 2002, Deon Willis, who is now 44, lived at the complex. He and his friend had just bought snacks from the “Candy Lady” at the housing complex when officers stopped them, according to federal court records. The officers asked if Willis had a brother. When he confirmed he did, the officers ordered him to go down a set of stairs.
Willis was met by Watts and other officers who told Willis to call his brother. When Willis refused, officers searched him and took him to a police station, where he was charged with a drug crime, according to court records. He later learned that his brother had promised to give Watts $5,000 in order to avoid being framed for a crime, but the brother hadn’t followed through with the payment.
“It’s been a mess, you know, he tore my life apart just because he couldn’t get a hold of my brother,” Willis said Friday.
Willis pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to two years probation, according to court records. He was later arrested a second time by Watts and his crew, according to court records. This past November, Willis’ convictions and sentences were tossed out.
McDonald, now 31, said she feels like she is in a better place to speak out about what happened to her. As a teen, she said, the arrests took hold of her life, and they coincided with her expecting her first child. Now, she’s working on a book about her life and she started a clothing line to help support her three sons.
While the cases like those of McDonald and Willis are similar, all 19 people filed separate lawsuits because the details of each case differ, Loevy said. That’s why attorneys are not filing a class-action lawsuit, he said.
Watts’ yearslong corruption run ended in 2012 when he and Officer Kallatt Mohammed were convicted of using shakedown tactics against a drug courier who actually was an FBI informant. Watts was sentenced to 22 months in prison, and he moved to Las Vegas after being released.
Loevy said Watts’ conviction could help the federal lawsuits filed this week because they involve similar behavior.
“It’s a little bit hard for the city to deny wrongdoing when the officer who victimized all these people had to go to federal prison for the exact crimes these people were victimized by,” Loevy said.
In other pending lawsuits against him, Watts has invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 40 times, according to court records. In the wake of the allegations, 15 Chicago police officers tied to Watts were placed on desk duty pending an investigation into their conduct. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability did not respond to a request for comment on the status of the inquiry.
Chicago Tribune’s Megan Crepeau contributed.
emalagon@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @ElviaMalagon
No comments:
Post a Comment