Chicago, IL – On the morning of Monday, December 2, about 30 demonstrators, led by survivors of wrongful convictions and their loved ones, gathered in below-freezing temperatures outside the downtown Chicago office of incoming Cook County State's Attorney Eileen Burke to demand she free torture survivors and the wrongfully convicted.

Speakers gave testimony, chanted, and held signs that reinforced their demands. Burke has a lot of work to do to keep up with her predecessor Kim Foxx, who freed over 300 survivors of wrongful conviction and police torture during her eight years in office.

“Our wrongfully convicted loved ones should not have to spend another holiday in these god-forsaken slave ships called prisons,” said Jasmine Smith, co-chair of the Chicago Alliance. “Eileen Burke could free them with a stroke of her pen!”

During the program, the family and loved ones of currently incarcerated survivors, including Tamon Russell, Ramon Banks and Devon Showers, spoke. In addition, formerly incarcerated survivors of wrongful conviction spoke or were in attendance, including Mark Clements, David Lincoln, Cordell Williams, Dante Brown, and Kevin Jackson – who was only just released in September. Kevin Jackson won his freedom in court after two decades behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Jackson was wrongfully convicted by now-retired Sargeant Brian Forgberg, alongside Detective Kevin Eberle and John Foster.

Those three detectives are responsible for the wrongful incarceration of dozens of other survivors who are still fighting for their freedom, including Rico Clark, Lester Owens and Douglas Livingston. Despite these crimes, Foster remains on the force as the commander of Area 5, and Eberle was promoted to become the head of the FBI task force on public safety.

On her final day in office, former State’s Attorney Kim Foxx affirmed the role of the movement during her tenure when she said, “The ability to have sustained change outside of an election year comes from that movement push.”

The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and its allies intend to continue this fight until all torture survivors and the wrongfully convicted are free.

#ChicagoIL #ChicagoAlliance #CAARPR #KimFoxx #torturesurvivors #wrongfulincarceration

Chicago, IL – William Elias Conway, III is running against Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in the March 17 Democratic Party primary election. He has flooded TV airways and cable channels with commercials promoting his ‘progressive’ agenda, pledging to “defend Chicago’s marginal communities from attacks from Donald Trump.”

But Bill Conway is the son of William Elias Conway, Jr., the founder of the Carlyle Group. His father is a multi-billionaire who has donated over $4 million to his son’s campaign against incumbent Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. Conway, Jr. has also strong-armed many East Coast corporations to join him in funding his son’s campaign.

Foxx has a reputation for fairness and has demonstrated a willingness to question arrests made by police officers, especially those of proven torturers and frame-up artists. This has earned her the hatred of the Fraternal Order of Police, which organized a white supremist demonstration against her outside her office last year.

Conway III is a former Cook County prosecutor who worked in the Public Corruption and Financial Crimes unit under Anita Alvarez, who Foxx defeated in 2016 because of Alvarez’ involvement in covering up police murders of Black and Latinx youth and her role in extracting false confessions under torture from Black youth. One of her most infamous cases was that of the Englewood Four, very young Black teenagers convicted of rape and murder based on tortured confessions, and later exonerated by DNA tests that proved the crime was committed by a convicted serial rapist.

What is the Carlyle Group, founded by Conway’s father? Among those who’ve been on its payroll are former President and CIA Director George H. W. Bush and Frank Carlucci (who was once carlyle board chairman). Carlucci is a former U. S. Defense Secretary and CIA operative who is credited with masterminding the 1973 overthrow and assassination of Chilean President Salvador Allende.

Wikipedia reports that “In 2015, Carlyle was the world's largest private equity firm by capital raised over the last five years, according to the PEI 300 index.” The site adds, “Carlyle's corporate private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyout transactions over the decade 2004–2014. Carlyle has invested in Booz Allen Hamilton, PA Consulting, Dex Media, Dunkin' Brands, Freescale Semiconductor, Getty Images, HCR ManorCare, Hertz, Kinder Morgan, Nielsen, United Defense, and other companies.”

United Defense is one of the largest defense contractors, a key part of the military-industrial complex. They supply weapons systems to the U. S. military, including: Advanced Gun System (AGS) for next generation, United States Navy surface combatants, Future Combat Systems Manned Ground Vehicles family of light armored ground vehicles, the M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, the M3 Bradley Cavalry fighting vehicle, the M8 Armored Gun System armored gun system, the M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle, the M109 Paladin, the M113 family, the Crusader, the Mark 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS), and the 5-54 Mark 45 and 62 caliber lightweight naval gun.

What is the interest of this multi-billion dollar trans-national corporation in the Cook County State’s Attorney race? Is it only filial? Is this just a billionaire helping his son, like the late Mayor Richard J. Daley’s mistletoe approach to such things? Or is his fealty as much to the Fraternal Order of Police as to his son, related to possible purchases by the Chicago Police Department of military hardware, such as that in 2012, which included a $600,000 Oshkosh Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle?

What are the politics of the Carlyle Group, controlled by ‘progressive’ Bill Conway’s father? If its political contributions are any gauge of this, consider the following.

In the past three decades the Carlyle Group has contributed $20 million to political candidates, including over $6 million to Democrats and $9 million to Republicans. In addition, companies owned or controlled by Carlyle have donated $11.7 million to Republicans and $1.8 million to Democrats.

Carlyle has also officially established a Political Action Committee to funnel ‘voluntary’ contributions from its employees to the political campaigns of its choice.

Recent TV viewers have been inundated with Conway commercials featuring Candace Clark, a 21 year-old African-American woman allegedly treated unfairly by Kim Foxx’ office. Clark is a young Black woman who lives in Hoffman Estates, a Northwest suburb of Chicago. She was arrested in March of 2019 and charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false report “regarding funds that went missing from her bank account.” Prosecutors in Foxx’ office offered Clark deferred prosecution, meaning she would have to make restitution, obtain a GED and appear in District 9 Court at 26th Street and California Avenue in Chicago monthly or biweekly over a period of time. The charges would then be dismissed.

Judge Marc Martin, a white judge who was appointed to the 11th Sub-circuit of the Cook County Court, had occasion to comment that he felt Clark’s treatment was at variance with that afforded by Foxx to actor Jussie Smollett. “I’d like to know why Ms. Clark is being treated differently than Jussie Smollett,” Judge Martin opined at length from the bench. Martin was most recently in the news as one of the attorneys for Richard Vanecko, a nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, accused of involuntary manslaughter in the death of David Koschman. Vanecko was acquitted.

Actually, Clark’s treatment was not much different than that of Smollett. But that hasn’t stopped Conway from “taking her case pro bono” and using it to attack Kim Foxx for showing favoritism toward Smollett, who is “rich and famous.” Actually, where there is little dispute about the charges again Clark, there was no legal basis for holding Smollett, according to the state’s attorney, who made it clear that there was no case against him that could stand up in court. Smollett insists that he was indeed attacked by a racist group, including at least one white man, and that he fabricated nothing about the attack. “I would not be my mother’s son if I ever did anything like this,” Smollett said when the charges against him were dropped by Foxx’s office.

So, the bottom line is that Bill Conway is the son of a far right-wing defense contractor and associate of assassins and war criminals, who is masquerading as a progressive. He stands against the first truly progressive State’s Attorney that Cook County has ever had, Kim Foxx. He stands with the Fraternal Order of Police and Donald Trump and he can be counted on to revive the worst practices of the state’s attorney and the police under Richard M. Daley and all his successors before Foxx.

#ChicagoIL #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #US #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #Elections #KimFoxx #CookCountyStatesAttorney #BillConway

Chicago, IL – In 1997, a corrupt police detective in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, Joseph Miedzianowski, arrested 17-year-old Jaime Hauad. After torturing Hauad into making statements that were used to incriminate him, he was charged with murder, wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Years later, Miedzianowski and Gang Crimes Unit head, Reynaldo Guevara, were exposed for having wrongfully convicted 51 young men, mainly Puerto Rican and Chicanos/Latinos. Hauad’s mother, Anabel Perez, has fought for freedom for her son since then, joining the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and working in the movement against police crimes. On Friday, Jan. 19, Hauad finally walked free from prison. Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression issued the following statement to mark this important victory: Welcome home Jaime Hauad!!! All power to the people!!! Now let’s free Gerald Reed and all the torture victims!

The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (the Alliance) hails the decision of State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to act to free Jaime Hauad from prison, 21 years after he was wrongfully convicted of a double murder. This decision is a precedent for the release of other victims of police torture.

We are so happy for Anabel Perez, Jaime and his entire family, for this is the day you and the movement have been fighting to see for many years. Those were years of endurance and the persistence of a mother's love, together with our collective determination not to surrender for one minute to the forces of racism and police terror.

This historic victory could not have happened without the Alliance and the movement. It is the families and the movement – united, organized struggle – that has been the driving force for justice that won Jaime Hauad’s freedom after 21 years. Jaime has pledged that he is now joining the fight to free the rest of the victims of police torture.

We remember that at first Foxx declined to review Hauad’s case. The Alliance called a news conference denouncing this as a travesty of justice. At that moment Foxx asked us for a meeting, which included Anabel Perez, Armanda Shackleford (Gerald Reed’s mother) and 20 other families. Following that meeting Hauad’s case was sent to the SA’s Conviction Integrity Unit.

Finally, Foxx moved in court last Thursday that Hauad’s sentence of life without possibility of parole be reduced to time served. The case had been referred by the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC) for review by the courts, but Foxx cut the process short by moving to have Hauad released immediately. Typically, it takes the courts as long as ten years to process a TIRC finding.

In the spirit of this courageous act by Kim Foxx, the Alliance renews its call for Governor Bruce Rauner to immediately pardon all victims of torture, false confession, and free the hundreds remaining in prison. The governor can do this with a stroke of his pen. A petition supporting this demand has been signed by thousands of people.

Even though free, Hauad’s conviction remains on his record, and the movement and his attorneys are working to win his complete exoneration.

The Alliance has also organized over 50,000 people calling for the City Council to enact the ordinance that will create an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) to prevent police crimes such as torture, murder, racial profiling and false arrest.

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #KimFoxx #JaimeHauad

Chicago, IL – La Alianza de Chicago contra la Represión Racista y Política llevó a las familias de 17 hombres condenados injustamente a reunirse con el Fiscal del Condado de Cook, Kim Foxx, en febrero. En la reunión, Foxx se comprometió a investigar cada uno de los casos y donde hay pruebas de inocencia, dijo que los liberaría.

Frank Chapman, organizador de campo de la Alianza, exigió mucho más de Fox: Él pidió la liberación inmediata de todas las víctimas de la tortura de la policía. “Estos hombres no deben pasar otro día en prisión”, declaró. “Cada uno de los más de 100 hombres que han declarado falsamente confesados bajo tortura por torturadores conocidos deben ser puestos en libertad, al menos en bonos de garantía, mientras que la SA decide si continuar los casos contra ellos “.

“Pero incluso esto es sólo un primer paso”, declaró Chapman. “Además, estos torturadores conocidos y sus ayudantes y agresores deben ser acusados y procesados por su constante conspiración para violar los derechos civiles de sus víctimas”.

Chapman señaló que el estatuto de limitaciones sobre el crimen de tortura no puede comenzar a agotarse, “hasta que las víctimas de los crímenes sean libres y totalmente compensadas por la pérdida de décadas de sus vidas tras las rejas”.

Liberen a Jaime Hauad

A principios de febrero, un grupo de madres de algunos de los hombres condenados erróneamente llevó a cabo una rueda de prensa en la cárcel del Condado de Cook para exigir Foxx a su promesa de campaña para investigar los casos de los condenados por error, empezando por Jaime Hauad. El 6 de febrero, el Chicago Sun Times había publicado que Hauad merecía que su caso fuera revisado por Foxx y citó a la Comisión de Tortura de Illinois, que dijo en 2014 que existía una fuerte evidencia de que Hauad había sido torturado.

Hauad tenía 17 años en 1997 cuando fue arrestado, torturado, acusado y condenado a cadena perpetua por un doble asesinato que no cometió. La Unidad de Delitos de la Zona 5 del Departamento de Policía de Chicago (CPD), quien lo torturó y inventó la evidencia, fue encabezada por el detective Reynaldo Guevara, que ahora es conocido por haber enmarcado a 51 hombres y mujeres por asesinato. El socio de Guevara, el detective Joseph Miedzianowski, está cumpliendo una sentencia de cadena perpetua por dirigir una banda criminal dentro del CPD y fue acusado de abusar de sospechosos y de arreglar casos.

Hauad es una de las víctimas de la tortura a manos de los policías de Chicago que aún están encarcelados, y es uno de los 29 hombres que todavía están en prisión tras haber sido enmarcados por Guevara. La madre de Hauad, Anabelle Pérez, miembro de la Alianza de Chicago, exigió que se investigara el caso de su hijo, que lo pusieran en libertad y que sus torturadores fueran procesados hasta el máximo alcance de la ley.

Como resultado de las terribles luchas contra los crímenes policiales en los últimos años, Hauad y su familia pudieron finalmente obtener algo de justicia.

Chicago: Epicentro de la crisis de los crímenes policiales

Foxx fue elegida en 2016 en una protesta contra su predecesora, Anita Alvarez. Una ola de rabia sacó a Alvarez de su cargo después de que fue expuesta por su papel en el encubrimiento del asesinato policial de Laquan McDonald, 17 años de edad, en octubre de 2014. McDonald fue ejecutado a sangre fría por el oficial Jason Van Dyke. El mundo ha visto el video de Van Dyke disparando contra McDonald, que llevaba sólo un cuchillo de tres pulgadas, y se alejaba cuando el policía asesino le disparó 16 veces desde una distancia de 20 pies o más. La protesta por el asesinato de McDonald's creó una crisis de legitimidad para el alcalde Rahm Emanuel que continúa hasta estos días.

Chicago ya había sido conocida como la capital de la convicción injusta y la capital de la tortura del país. Esta merecida reputación vino después de las revelaciones en los años 90 de las más de 200 víctimas de la tortura, casi todos jóvenes negros y latinos, a manos de una pandilla de policías encabezados por el detective Jon Burge. Ahora está siendo expuesta otra pandilla en azul, encabezada por Guevara, que apunta principalmente a jóvenes puertorriqueños, mexicanos y negros en el barrio de Humboldt Park.

La liberación de los cuatro de Marquette Park

Las declaraciones de la candidata Foxx hasta ahora han producido acciones en un caso bien conocido, cuando se negó a nuevamente juzgar los Cuatro de Marquette Park – Lashawn Ezell, Estilos Larod, Charles Johnson y Troshawn McCoy. Estos hombres pasaron 22 años en la cárcel, pero resultaron haber sido condenados injustamente mientras Anita Alvarez estaba en el cargo. Álvarez se negó a descartar los cargos contra ellos y liberarlos.

La inocencia de los cuatro hombres que han sido aceptados por el abogado de los estados, su caso ahora se convierte en una poderosa condena del CPD. Como dijo Ted Pearson de la Alianza de Chicago: “Su liberación es una victoria en la lucha por la justicia para las víctimas de los crímenes de policías de Chicago, fiscales corruptos y jueces que hacen la vista gorda ante los crímenes policiales”.

La lucha por la justicia para las víctimas continúa

En marzo, la Alianza de Chicago anunció el lanzamiento de un esfuerzo para exigir que Foxx use su oficina para liberar a todas las víctimas de la tortura. Chapman explicó que la Alianza está apoyando las acciones que está tomando. “Esta es la primera vez en 26 años que un abogado del estado rompió con la Orden Fraternal de la Policía, rompió con el alcalde, sobre la cuestión de la tortura”.

Durante la reunión con Foxx en febrero, Chapman declaró: “Mientras sigas en la dirección correcta, nos moveremos contigo. Si se mueve en la dirección equivocada, nos moveremos en su contra. “

En su campaña electoral, Foxx había criticado a su predecesora por no hacer más con la sucursal de su oficina llamada la Unidad de Integridad de las Convicciones. La Alianza cree que Foxx se ve obligada a abordar el dolor de las víctimas de la tortura porque, como dijo repetidamente durante su campaña, su objetivo es abordar la “desconfianza pública generalizada en nuestro sistema de justicia penal roto”.

Foxx descarta el caso contra Robert Almodovar y William Negron

El 10 de abril, dos de los casos de Guevara se presentaron ante un juez para decidir si debían ser juzgados de nuevo. Robert Almodovar y William Negron tenían 19 y 17 años de edad cuando fueron falsamente acusados de un doble asesinato en 1994. Han estado en prisión durante 22 años.

En 2015, la ciudad de Chicago emprendió una revisión del caso. El alcalde Emanuel se vio obligado a iniciar una investigación independiente de las víctimas de Guevara. Esa investigación llevó a un tribunal de apelación que dictaminó que la evidencia de los fiscales era “posiblemente bastante tenue”.

En la corte del juez James Linn, el fiscal adjunto Celeste Stack argumentó en contra de un nuevo juicio, tratando de refutar la creciente evidencia de los crímenes de Guevara. La Alianza de Chicago bombardeó la oficina de Foxx con llamadas telefónicas en respuesta, y dos días más tarde, Foxx hizo una declaración que, dada la evidencia presentada en la corte el 10 de abril, su oficina no volverá a intentar Almodóvar y Negrón.

Lucha continua por el control comunitario de la policía

Para la Alianza, la liberación de los Cuatro de Marquette Park y el Fiscal del Estado que se niega a volver a juzgar a las víctimas de Guevara es también una oportunidad para educar sobre CPAC, la legislación para un Consejo de Responsabilidad de la Policía Civil. Según activistas como Bertha Escamilla, cuyo hijo Nick fue torturado por los detectives de Burge y pasó 15 años en prisión, “Si hubiese existido CPAC, los hombres injustamente condenados basados en confesiones torturadas nunca hubieran sido encarcelados”. Esto es porque CPAC tendría el poder para investigar todas las quejas por delitos policiales.

Chapman, también, volvió a la demanda de control comunitario de la policía. “El paso de CPAC será una gran huelga por la libertad”, dijo Chapman. “Va a poner fin a la situación actual en la que los oficiales de CPD pueden parar y friccionar, arrestar e incluso asesinar a la gente sólo porque son negros, puertorriqueños o chicanos / mexicanos, porque pondrá el poder de despedir a estos oficiales y los remitirá a juicio en manos del pueblo “.

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #FrankChapman #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #CPAC #KimFoxx

Chicago, IL – The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression led the families of 17 wrongfully-convicted men to meet with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in February. In the meeting, Foxx committed to investigate each of the cases and where there is proof of innocence, she said she would release them.

Frank Chapman, Field Organizer of the Alliance, demanded much more of Fox: He called for the immediate release of all victims of police torture. “These men should not spend another day in prison,” he declared. “Every one of the more than 100 men who have stated they falsely confessed under torture by known torturers should be released, at least on recognizance bonds while the SA decides whether to continue cases against them.”

“But even this is just a first step,” Chapman declared. “In addition, these known torturers and their prosecutorial aiders and abettors should be indicted and prosecuted for their ongoing conspiracy to violate the civil rights of their victims.”

Chapman pointed out that the statute of limitations on the crime of torture cannot start to run out, “until the victims of the crimes are free and fully compensated for the loss of decades of their lives behind bars.”

Free Jaime Hauad

Earlier in February, a group of mothers of some of the wrongfully convicted men held a press conference at Cook County Jail to demand Foxx keep her campaign promise to investigate the cases of the wrongfully convicted, starting with Jaime Hauad. On Feb. 6, the Chicago Sun Times had editorialized that Hauad deserved to have his case reviewed by Foxx, and cited the Illinois Torture Commission, which said in 2014 that there was strong evidence that Hauad had been tortured.

Hauad was 17 years old in 1997 when he was arrested, tortured, charged and sentenced to life in prison for a double murder he didn’t commit. The Area 5 Gang Crimes Unit of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) who tortured him and concocted the evidence was headed by Detective Reynaldo Guevara, who is now known for having framed 51 men and women for murder. Guevara’s partner, Detective Joseph Miedzianowski, is serving a life sentence for running a criminal gang within the CPD, and was accused of abusing suspects and fixing cases.

Hauad is one of the victims of torture at the hands of Chicago cops that are still imprisoned, and he is one of 29 men still in prison having been framed by Guevara. Hauad’s mother, Anabelle Perez, a member of the Chicago Alliance, demanded that her son’s case be investigated, that he be set free, and his torturers be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

As a result of the earth-shaking struggles against police crimes in the past several years, Hauad and his family could finally get some justice.

Chicago: Epicenter of the crisis of police crimes

Foxx was elected in 2016 in a protest vote against her predecessor, Anita Alvarez. A wave of anger swept Alvarez from office after she was exposed for her role in the cover up of the police murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014. McDonald was executed in cold blood by Officer Jason Van Dyke. The world has seen the video of Van Dyke shooting McDonald, who had been carrying only a three-inch knife, and was walking away when the killer cop shot him 16 times from a distance of 20 feet or more. The outcry over McDonald’s murder created a crisis of legitimacy for Mayor Rahm Emanuel that continues to this day.

Chicago had already been known as the wrongful conviction capital and the torture capital of the country. This deserved reputation came after the revelations in the 1990s of the more than 200 victims of torture, almost all young Black and Latino men, at the hands of a gang of cops headed by Detective Jon Burge. Now another gang in blue is being exposed, headed by Guevara, which targeted mainly Puerto Rican, Mexican and Black youth in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Release of the Marquette Park Four

The statements by candidate Foxx have so far produced action in one well-known case, when she refused to retry the Marquette Park Four – Lashawn Ezell, Larod Styles, Charles Johnson and Troshawn McCoy. These men spent 22 years in prison, but were proven to have been wrongfully convicted while Anita Alvarez was in office. Alvarez refused to drop the charges against them and release them.

The innocence of the four men having been accepted by the states’ attorney, their case now becomes a powerful condemnation of the CPD. As Ted Pearson of the Chicago Alliance put it, “Their release is a victory in the struggle for justice for victims of the crimes of Chicago police officers, corrupt prosecutors, and judges who turn a blind eye toward police crimes.”

Struggle for justice for victims continues

In March, the Chicago Alliance announced the launch of an effort to demand Foxx use her office to release all torture victims. Chapman explained that the Alliance is supporting the actions she is taking. “This is the first time in 26 years that a state’s attorney broke with the Fraternal Order of the Police, broke with the mayor, on the question of torture.”

During the meeting with Foxx in February, Chapman stated, “As long as you’re moving in the right direction, we’ll move with you. If you move in the wrong direction, we’ll move against you.”

In her election campaign, Foxx had criticized her predecessor for failure to do more with the branch of her office called the Convictions Integrity Unit. The Alliance believes that Foxx is compelled to address the gaping sore of the torture victims because, as she said repeatedly during her campaign, her goal is to address the “widespread public distrust in our broken criminal justice system.”

Foxx drops case against Robert Almodovar and William Negron

On April 10, two of Guevara’s cases came before a judge to decide if they should be tried again. Robert Almodovar and William Negron were 19 and 17 years old when they were falsely accused of a double murder in 1994. They have been in prison for 22 years.

In 2015, a review of the case was undertaken by the City of Chicago. Mayor Emanuel was compelled to launch an independent investigation of Guevara’s victims. That investigation led to an appellate court ruling that the prosecutors’ evidence was “arguably quite tenuous.”

In Judge James Linn’s court, Assistant State’s Attorney Celeste Stack actually argued against a new trial, attempting to refute the mounting evidence showing Guevara’s crimes. The Chicago Alliance blitzed Foxx’s office with phone calls in response, and two days later, Foxx made a statement that, given the evidence presented in court on April 10, her office will not retry Almodovar and Negron.

Continued fight for community control of the police

For the Alliance, the release of the Marquette Park Four, and the State’s Attorney refusing to re-try Guevara’s victims is also an opportunity for educating about CPAC, the legislation for an elected, Civilian Police Accountability Council. According to activists like Bertha Escamilla, whose son Nick was tortured by Burge’s detectives and spent 15 years in prison, “Had CPAC existed, those men wrongfully convicted based on tortured confessions would never have been imprisoned.” This is because CPAC would have the power to investigate all complaints of police crimes.

Chapman, too, returned to the demand for community control of the police. “The passage of CPAC will be a great strike for freedom,” Chapman stated. “It will end the current situation in which CPD officers can stop and frisk, arrest, and even murder people just because they are Black, Puerto Rican or Chicano/Mexicano, because it will put the power to fire these officers and refer them for prosecution into the hands of the people.”

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #FrankChapman #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #CPAC #KimFoxx

Chicago, IL – For many years the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression has campaigned to win freedom for the many victims of torture and other crimes by the Chicago police. This week, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced that she was dropping the case against two men, Robert Almodovar and William Negron, who had been framed by the notorious gang of Detective Reynoldo Guevara. Almodovar walked out of prison April 14, and we continue to demand freedom for Negron, who remains jailed on an unrelated case.

There are several lessons to be learned from this victory for our movement. When Almodovar was interviewed outside Cook County Jail, he spoke about all the other innocent men that remain behind bars, including his codefendant, William Negron. In the local media, his words were broadcast over and over.

In this atmosphere, we need to seize the time. The movement needs to continue to spread the word: there are over 100 known torture victims of the Burge gang still in prison; and 28 other known victims of Detective Guevara are still in prison, too. There are probably others that are yet unknown.

News media report that Detective Guevara coerced witnesses in addition to suspects. Guevara and his gang of cops in Humboldt Park had a history of beating young people. The teenagers who identified Almodovar and Negron in the line-ups were also beaten or threatened. Like the men tortured by Burge, the cases of men framed by Guevara involved the use of unchallenged police violence.

Almodovar said that Detective Guevara needs to be prosecuted because he tried to get him the death penalty. This is attempted murder. We agree, and call for prosecution of all the cops in Guevara’s Gang Crimes Unit that engaged in framing the 51 men, and for prosecution of every cop that engaged in torture or the cover-up of torture as well.

Something changed when Kim Foxx intervened in this case. Press reports said that during the proceedings in court, when Foxx dropped the cases against Almodovar and Negron, Judge James Linn said he was “stunned” by the prosecution decision to abandon the case. “I'd never seen anything like this,” the longtime judge said before tossing their convictions.

However, the judge was only considering granting new trials. If he had done that, those proceedings would have taken at least two more years. But by dropping the cases, Kim Foxx freed Almodovar immediately. And Negron’s lawyer is now free to focus on challenging the other conviction. Apparently Judge Linn’s authority to conduct a lengthy new trial is worth more to him than the freedom of two innocent victims of police crime. A judge not consumed with racism and his own self-importance would have, instead, expressed shock that Guevara and his co-conspirators have not been indicted.

Kim Foxx is moving to bring some justice in these cases because the movement has been making demands on her and on her predecessors. Her election was based, in the first place, on the anger of the people against continuing cover up of police crimes by the former state’s attorneys.

In light of this victory, we must redouble our efforts. The Alliance calls on the movement against police crimes to join with us and the families of the victims to say: “State’s Attorney Kim Foxx: Free all victims of police torture and frame-ups, now!”

Joe Iosbaker is a member of the Steering Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. He is a rank-and-file trade unionist in SEIU Local 73.

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #RobertAlmodovar #WilliamNegron #KimFoxx