Just Hearing This Now?
- A man sent to prison for murder 21 years ago, then released last fall after a key witness recanted, accuses Chicago police in a lawsuit of manipulating the witness and falsifying evidence.
“Jacques Rivera has suffered a grave injustice at the hands of Chicago police," attorney Locke Bowman said today in announcing the lawsuit. “This is a pattern within the Chicago Police Department."
Rivera, a former Latin King, was convicted of killing 16-year-old Felix Valentin during a summer of rising violence among warring street gangs in Chicago's West Humboldt Park neighborhood in 1988.
"former" as in his dues lapsed for the past 21 years.
- Rivera's lawyers with Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions tracked down Lopez in 2010. He recanted his testimony, swearing in an affidavit that he tried to notify police and prosecutors before Rivera's trial that he had identified the wrong individual but that they wouldn't listen.
Last month, Judge Neera Walsh ruled that Lopez's recantation was credible and ordered a new trial for Rivera. Cook County prosecutors then decided not to retry Rivera and he was released from jail last October.
According to the suit, Lopez was unable to identify anyone as Valentin’s assailant during the first line-up that included Rivera. The suit claims that no police record was made of this line-up and, instead, "detectives falsified records to show that Lopez had not viewed the line-up."
So for 21 years, this witness didn't tell anyone that he didn't identify the shooter and had actually picked out the wrong person in the line up? How believable is that crap? He couldn't find a lawyer or media-type to counter this supposed injustice inflicted upon the plaintiff 20 years ago?
Or how about he got the right guy the first time, was shocked to find out how easily people could find him years later, then justifies his "recanting" by thinking 20 years is long enough for a murder.
We like that explanation better.
Or how about he got the right guy the first time, was shocked to find out how easily people could find him years later, then justifies his "recanting" by thinking 20 years is long enough for a murder.
We like that explanation better.
Labels: crime
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
14 Comments:
cha-ching..
You put in your 20 years and you then collect a golden parachute multimillion dollar city pension!
The jagoff served 20 years which is a lot for a killing in Crook County. Mr. Bowman and his ilk are multi-millionaires finding all these innocent buzzards in jail. I would bet the "witness" who recanted will get a nice pile of cash for his memory loss.
Judge Walsh for shame. I was a deputy in your court with Judge P years ago now im cpd. I watched you convict mutiple homicide offenders A recant from another gang banging punk is credible? 20 years afterwards. shame on you Nera for this ruling. This is a gang payoff for a law suit! Get a spine
If he had been locked up on the west side all he would have had to do is blow the lockup keeper and he could have avoided this whole mess.
Slum-times failed to report all the details on other case...Same thing occurred with the white dude Kluppelberg, or something like that, a serial arsonist, sets several fires on 4400 S Hermitage, cooking a family of five alive, admits to police and to his then girlfriend who flips on him, good job right?
Fast forward 21 years and ex-girlfriend won't testify again + they forced me to confess defense= FREE MURDERER. I hope they (U of C Exoneration Program) sleep well at night knowing they freed a serial killer, and start the timer til he does it again. I hate this liberal state.
Don't worry, SCC. These are the last days for both Northwestern's Center on Wrongful Conviction and the Innocence Project.
Protess has been fired. He's admitted altering evidence for the State's Attorney and the university admits he lied to them about his investigations. The university is also aware that Protess has regularly bribed witnesses in cases, particularly the Anthony Porter case and that he knowingly released a guilty Porter and put an innocenct man, Alstory Simon in prison.
There is no end to the corruption that Protess engaged in while at the Innocence Project and it spills over into Rob Warden's Center of Wrongful Convictions.
The wrongful conviction movement is going to implode in the next year or so. Even Alvarez won't be able to avoid indictments.
Since juries in Cook County at the State or Federal level are known for giving huge settlements in this type of case, you can be sure that this matter will be settled out of court, just start adding the zeroes! We live in a world of perception; reality means nothing.
Former, right. Bec he wasn't a king in the joint ....
Almost all judges in Crook County are elected. The rest are "appointed" by Prince Madigan & Co. Many of them don't want to piss off the same animals who fill up their court rooms every day. Gangstas killing off each other...Who the fuck cares. Paying out any money to these crazed bastards for their crimes hurts. It is part of what will bring this country down.
Valentin's bro, Fingers ('cuz he had 6 on one hand), was my 1st UUW head, up around North and Kedzie some 18 years ago.
Memories...
(Oh yeah, I forgot. Let 'em go Leo Holt tossed it for no PC. The more things change...)
Case
Anonymous said...
Slum-times failed to report all the details on other case...Same thing occurred with the white dude Kluppelberg, or something like that, a serial arsonist, sets several fires on 4400 S Hermitage, cooking a family of five alive, admits to police and to his then girlfriend who flips on him, good job right?
Fast forward 21 years and ex-girlfriend won't testify again + they forced me to confess defense= FREE MURDERER. I hope they (U of C Exoneration Program) sleep well at night knowing they freed a serial killer, and start the timer til he does it again. I hate this liberal state.
6/08/2012 07:34:00 AM
When this Kluppelberg case hit the news, it really sounded like total bullshit, so I did some research on line and found several court documents on his appeals. What a kroc of shit. This asshole started that fire for damn sure, but this recantation bullshit has cut him loose for killing 5 innocent people. We truly are doomed.
Who are these ass clown Judges doing this!
Or how about he got the right guy the first time, was shocked to find out how easily people could find him years later, then justifies his "recanting" by thinking 20 years is long enough for a murder.
****
think dude..... this fucker is doing what every other fucker does when someone approaches them with a golden ticket of cash rewards for lying about their testimony.
Lawyers find witnesses who are willing to sell their lies for city cash if they can win a lawsuit, plain and simple.
Recanting testimony IS perjury and should be treated as such.
Mandatory 15 year sentence for anyone who changes their story after giving lawful testimony.
Re: Innocence Project
The Innocence Project must be nearing its' end, as shown in a recent Chicago Reader article:
The age of innocence is over
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