In an extraordinary move, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office is investigating whether a former Chicago police sergeant convicted of corruption tainted far more convictions than the three defendants he’s already been held responsible for framing.
Prosecutors confirmed the investigation as a University of Chicago lawyer on Monday withdrew his request that a "special master" be appointed, saying that step was unnecessary now that prosecutors agreed to pore over potentially hundreds of tainted convictions involving ex-Sgt. Ronald Watts and officers he supervised.
The Chicago Tribune has written several front-page stories since last year detailing the fallout over Watts’ nearly decade-long run of corruption. So far, four drug convictions involving three defendants have been tossed because of the convicted officer’s wrongdoing. And two officers who maintained they were victims of the code of silence won a $2 million settlement to their whistleblower lawsuit that alleged they were blackballed for trying to expose Watts’ corruption years ago.
At least five other officers who were part of Watts’ team are still on the force, including one who has since been promoted to sergeant and another accused in a federal lawsuit of shooting a teen in the back without justification three years ago.
Attorney Josh Tepfer, of the University of Chicago Law School’s Exoneration Project, said the Watts probe was the first time he was aware of in which the state’s attorney’s office was pro-actively searching through convictions on its own. The move comes in the first months in office for State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who defeated incumbent Anita Alvarez largely over criticism of her handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting by a Chicago police officer.
"We’re very pleased that they’ve decided to go forward," Tepfer said. "It’s absolutely the right thing to do."
Drug conviction dropped in case linked to corrupt former Chicago cop Steve Schmadeke
Cook County prosecutors moved on Wednesday to dismiss the drug conviction of Lionel White — the latest case tainted by the corruption of former Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts and his team.
The Tribune featured White’s plight in a story Wednesday. Even though he had proclaimed from the beginning…
Cook County prosecutors moved on Wednesday to dismiss the drug conviction of Lionel White — the latest case tainted by the corruption of former Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts and his team.
The Tribune featured White’s plight in a story Wednesday. Even though he had proclaimed from the beginning…
(Steve Schmadeke)
In an email, Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for Foxx, confirmed that the Conviction Integrity Unit "is reviewing cases where Watts was substantively involved." She declined further comment.
Tepfer said the Conviction Integrity Unit is reviewing cases involving Watts in which defendants are still incarcerated.
After those cases are identified, he said he hoped to work with prosecutors to secure funding from private donors to expand the investigation into cases where defendants have already served their time – which potentially number in the hundreds.
Tepfer acknowledged such an undertaking would be time-consuming and costly, but in the end it’s the only way to bring justice to those victimized by Watts, he said.
"Whether they spent a year behind bars or five years, it was time taken out of society, time where they weren’t able to work, where they lost time with their family or weren’t able to live their life because they were framed," he said. "Every one of those individuals has the right to have their convictions overturned and the opportunity to get compensation from the state."
Watts is a former public housing officer notorious for shaking down drug dealers for protection money and pinning false cases on those who wouldn’t play ball. He and another officer, Kallatt Mohammed, were arrested by the FBI in 2012 and later pleaded guilty to stealing money from a federal informant. Watts was sentenced to 22 months in prison. Mohammed received an 18-month term on the same charge.
Since Watts’ conviction, three defendants have successfully fought to have their drug convictions overturned based on allegations they were framed by the sergeant and his crew. One of them, Ben Baker, was released from prison last year after serving nearly a decade behind bars.
Another defendant, Lionel White, agreed to plead guilty to a five-year sentence in 2006 to avoid a potential life sentence if he went to trial. White, who had proclaimed from the beginning that Watts had framed him, ended up spending about 2 1/2 years in prison. Prosecutors dismissed his conviction in December.
In seeking the outside review in November, Tepfer proposed that a special master be given broad powers to go back as far as the late 1990s in search of other defendants wrongfully convicted because of Watt’s wrongdoing.
"There is little question that (those cases) barely scratch the surface of the wrongful arrests, prosecutions and convictions at the hands of an individual the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office now acknowledges is a ‘dirty police officer,’ " the filing said. "The interests of justice necessitate a full accounting of all the victims that have been harmed by wrongful conviction through the actions of these rogue Chicago police officers."
Suit alleges man spent decade in prison after cops framed him on drug charges Jason Meisner
A South Side man who spent more than a decade in prison on false drug charges filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging he was framed by a corrupt Chicago police sergeant and his crew — and that a code of silence within the department covered up the wrongdoing for years.
Ben Baker, 43, was freed…
A South Side man who spent more than a decade in prison on false drug charges filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging he was framed by a corrupt Chicago police sergeant and his crew — and that a code of silence within the department covered up the wrongdoing for years.
Ben Baker, 43, was freed…
(Jason Meisner)
In past court hearings, Leroy Martin Jr., the presiding judge at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, expressed reservations about appointing a special master because of concerns over whether those who sought the move had legal standing to do so.
But Tepfer wrote in a recent court filing that he was dropping the request because he’d begun working "closely and collaboratively" with prosecutors in seeking to determine how many others have been wrongly convicted by Watts and his crew. He said the office was "willing to dedicate significant personnel and financial resources" to the effort.
Having represented numerous clients in police misconduct cases, Tepfer said in a telephone interview Monday that the corruption surrounding Watts’ crew "encapsulates the code of silence within the Chicago Police Department more than any other situation that I’ve ever seen."
"We know from law enforcement documents that Watts and his crew were accused of taking kickbacks on a weekly basis," Tepfer said. "It was clear as day that they were routinely framing individuals for crimes that they didn’t commit. And individuals at the highest levels of CPD were aware of this misconduct."
Chicago Tribune’s Steve Schmadeke contributed.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @jmetr22b
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