February 27, 2025
A federal lawsuit shines a lightweight on the deep-rooted corruption inside Chicago’s judicial system.
A federal lawsuit alleges that Chicago metropolis and county officers enabled law enforcement officials to hold out a “wide-ranging scheme to fabricate proof,” resulting in the wrongful convictions of three harmless males for the homicide of a Chicago police officer.
Alexander Villa, 36, filed the lawsuit almost 5 months after a Cook dinner County choose vacated his conviction and granted him a brand new trial, citing proof that his rights had been violated, The Chicago Tribute reported. Villa endured eight years behind bars on a wrongful conviction for the homicide of Officer Clifton Lewis earlier than the courtroom’s ruling.
“Nobody will pay Mr. Villa again for what he has been via, and Officer Lewis’ household could by no means discover justice for his or her loss,” Jennifer Blagg, one in every of Villa’s attorneys, mentioned in an announcement. “And town of Chicago taxpayers proceed to pay for the CPD’s refusal to alter a well-documented sample of misconduct that goes again many years.”
It was final October when issues obtained tense throughout a listening to on the Leighton Legal Courtroom Constructing when the Cook dinner County State’s Lawyer’s Workplace admitted to uncovering probably exculpatory proof that had not been disclosed to the protection, however opted to not pursue a retrial.
Villa was one in every of three people charged within the case, which has sparked a separate lawsuit and full disarray inside the state’s legal professional’s workplace. Prosecutors had already dismissed costs towards the opposite two defendants, Edgardo Colon and Tyrone Clay, who at the moment are pursuing their very own authorized claims.
The lawsuit claims that law enforcement officials, with help from prosecutors, falsified proof and withheld key info that might have confirmed Villa’s innocence after failing to drive a confession. In response to the criticism, this was a part of an investigative unit known as “Operation Snake Physician,” which was assembled to focus on the Spanish Cobras road gang.
Lewis was working as a safety guard at a West Facet comfort retailer when two masked males fatally shot him. Misfiled proof included an FBI cell tower evaluation revealing that Villa was texting his girlfriend on the time of the capturing. Surveillance footage of the incident additionally confirmed no indication that both shooter was utilizing a cellphone, based on the movement.
Villa was convicted and sentenced to life in jail, however in 2023, his attorneys filed a movement for a brand new trial, arguing that the state’s legal professional’s workplace had uncovered proof that ought to have been disclosed earlier by former prosecutors Andrew Varga and Nancy Adduci.
Varga and Adduci, who both resigned or have been terminated, are named within the swimsuit together with town, county, and a variety of law enforcement officials and investigators. Whereas the lawsuits purpose to hunt justice for 3 wrongfully convicted males, there stay household and family members of Lewis who’re nonetheless in search of solutions into his tragic homicide.
“I do know you’re dissatisfied, and the household is dissatisfied, but when there’s not sufficient proof, there’s not sufficient proof,” Decide Carol Howard mentioned as she delivered her ruling.
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