Injustice in Illinois

There's a very important editorial in The Nation this week that I hope everyone will take the time to read. It's about the wrongful conviction of Anthony McKinney, who's been in prison for thirty-one years for a murder he did not commit. I'm posting the relevant portions below.

On the evening of September 15, 1978, a white security guard named Donald Lundahl was murdered in a robbery gone awry in a racially fraught southern suburb of Chicago. Police fingered Anthony McKinney, an 18-year-old African-American with no criminal record, as the killer. The prosecution sought death by lethal injection; the judge sentenced McKinney to life in prison.

McKinney has long maintained his innocence. Based on newly uncovered evidence, there's strong reason to believe that he has spent thirty-one years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

...In 2000 the Land of Lincoln's Republican governor, George Ryan, issued a moratorium on the death penalty, and in 2003 he granted clemency to all death-row inmates. Ryan announced his decision at Northwestern University, citing the work of Northwestern journalism professor David Protess and his students at the Medill School of Journalism, who had uncovered evidence that helped free five wrongly convicted men from death row.

In 2003 Protess and his students began examining McKinney's case. Over three years of painstaking reporting, they unearthed startling new evidence: the prosecution's two main witnesses, 15 and 18 at the time of the trial, recanted their testimony during interviews with the students, claiming they were beaten by the police and intimidated into doctoring the facts; McKinney alleged that he was beaten with a pipe by a detective with a history of police brutality before signing a sham confession; TV logs proved that both witnesses were watching a boxing match at the time of the shooting and thus could not have seen the murder; an ex-gang member, Anthony Drake, confessed on tape to being at the murder scene, named two perpetrators and said McKinney was not involved; current and former residents of the neighborhood confirmed they heard Drake and two other suspects confess to Lundahl's murder.

In 2006 the Medill Innocence Project turned over its findings to the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern's law school. The center shared the evidence with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, which began an internal investigation the following year. After more than a year of delay by the state, the center filed a postconviction petition on behalf of McKinney in October 2008, calling for a new trial or his immediate release. Following her election that November as Cook County State's Attorney, hardline career prosecutor Anita Alvarez fought the discovery of new evidence, and in May she issued a sweeping, unprecedented subpoena ordering Protess to hand over all material related to the McKinney case--including students' private memos and grades. Alvarez insultingly suggested that students might receive better grades for uncovering exculpatory evidence and claimed that Protess and his students were "investigators," not journalists, and thus not subject to the Illinois shield law...Apparently Alvarez has never heard of investigative journalism.

...The state's subpoena, wielded to stall justice and intimidate those who seek it, sets a terrible precedent. Lawyer Barry Scheck says that in his seventeen years at the Innocence Project in New York, he's never seen a subpoena of this nature directed at journalists or lawyers. Concludes Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law expert at George Washington University, "It creates an enormous chilling effect that's positively glacial."

Judge Cannon will soon rule on the validity of the state's subpoena. We urge her to throw it out and order a prompt evidentiary hearing. The kind of difficult reporting undertaken by the Medill Innocence Project should be celebrated, not undermined. It's shocking that the state would rather keep an innocent man behind bars than admit a mistake.

Nine groups of student journalists from Medill have interviewed McKinney in prison. By their accounts, he's a fragile and gentle man who's battled severe depression during three decades of wrongful incarceration. "If the state had gotten its way," Protess notes, "he would have been executed long ago."

I was one of those students. I took Protess's class in the spring of 2004 and worked on McKinney's case. The experience became the highlight of my time at Medill. My team and I were just twenty-one and twenty-two at the time, thrust into unfamiliar environs on the South Side of Chicago and elsewhere, trying to ferret out the facts of a murder that occurred before any of us were born. David's class, more than any other, taught me how to be a reporter, how to make make difficult decisions in a quick and decisive manner and how to always strive for justice and empathy in my work. (CNN anchor and McKinney alum Nicole Lapin has also posted a great piece about her own experiences.)

Find out the truth, David told us. That was his only mandate. Our work on the McKinney case strongly convinced me of his innocence. The facts were startling and overwhelming. We hoped that after the Center on Wrongful Convictions shared our evidence with the Cook County State's Attorney's office, the state would see things from our vantage point, treat the facts with respect and come to a serious conclusion about McKinney's innocence, granting him a new trial or full release. That hasn't happened. Instead, the state has stalled its own investigation and hit Protess and his students with an unprecedented subpoena that has far-reaching ramifications.

It's impossible to describe what it's like to work on a wrongful convictions case until you've actually done it. The work eats at you and wrenches at your heart. This case is not over. Justice can still be done. David taught us to believe, perhaps naively, that the truth is powerful enough to set someone free.

Comments (34)

1. Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.

   Keep up the fight.

   "...and the truth shall make you free."

   Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/06/2009 @ 1:45pm

2. Hmmmm, let's see. Right-wing responses will be-

   1. "Can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs" defense of capital punishment.

   2. Pointing out a completely different case, with a true monster and wanting to discuss that.

   Others?

   Posted by Mask at 11/06/2009 @ 1:58pm

3. capital punishment, as good as it makes victims feel, is nonetheless barbaric and ineffective in discouraging heinousness.

   and i'm not convinced AT ALL that no innocents have ever been executed.

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 11/06/2009 @ 2:05pm

4. Illinois police have their own rules, not unlike Philadelphia. They are like the CIA, they answer to no-one.

   Posted by sickoftheright at 11/06/2009 @ 2:27pm

5. ibble, you can take that one to the bank, you have to know they have put innocents to death, no more death penalty, put them in prison if they are guilty and throw away the key! And if you ask me it is far worse punishment to have to face life in prison.

   Posted by Denise29 at 11/06/2009 @ 2:39pm

6. There have been several cases of wrongful conviction all across America in recent years. Most of the ones that were overturned involved DNA evidence. One can only assume that before DNA evidence evolved, the jails were swollen with people who were wrongly convicted. Overly zealous prosecutors with political aspirations can be blamed in some of those cases.

   On the other hand, if a prosecutor doesn't convict, it's his/her ass that's on the line. Wherever exculpatory evidence exits after the fact, it should be considered. Better to have a new trial than to keep an innocent man behind bars for the rest of his life.

   Posted by gunslinger1 at 11/06/2009 @ 3:31pm

7. Posted by Denise29 at 11/06/2009 @ 2:39pm | ignore this person | warn this person

   yeah, and even then i have problems with trying minors as adults and then throwing them in prison forever regardless of how abominable their crimes were as minors...

   a kid does something horrid at age 15 or 16, when his/her frontal brain lobe, which is responsible for long term planning and understanding of consequences of actions, probably "raised" by the worst sort of jerry springer people imaginable, gets thrown in prison fo the rest of his life...

   and around his mid twenties his frontal brain lobe develops and he realizes the full horror of his actions, as well as the reality that he will be imprisoned forever at taxpayer expense...

   jeezus pleezus...science anybody?

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 11/06/2009 @ 3:31pm

8. If you've ever been falsely arrested by police after being told that you fit the description of the perpetrator of a crime based on what you're wearing or affecting, & suffer the bewildered & sickening feeling of false accusation, only to have the victim declare your innocence after actually seeing you, imagine what McKinney feels after 31 years of despair rather than 31 minutes in limbo.

   State of Illinois, clear this man.

   Posted by Sorelish at 11/06/2009 @ 3:49pm

9. G-d Sorelish, the pit of my stomache just rolled over, when you said that, and ibble, I completely agree, when I was 16 I was a child.

   Posted by Denise29 at 11/06/2009 @ 4:45pm

10. a kid does something horrid at age 15 or 16, when his/her frontal brain lobe, which is responsible for long term planning and understanding of consequences of actions, probably "raised" by the worst sort of jerry springer people imaginable, gets thrown in prison fo the rest of his life...

    and around his mid twenties his frontal brain lobe develops and he realizes the full horror of his actions, as well as the reality that he will be imprisoned forever at taxpayer expense...

    jeezus pleezus...science anybody?

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 11/06/2009 @ 3:31pm

    G-d Sorelish, the pit of my stomache just rolled over, when you said that, and ibble, I completely agree, when I was 16 I was a child.

    Posted by Denise29 at 11/06/2009 @ 4:45pm

    Unless you are mentally retarded, you are not a child at 16. Every 16 year old understands murder and death.

    Posted by antisocialist at 11/06/2009 @ 5:48pm

11. Now, see, what will transpire here is...

    ..."conservatives", or those on the right, or whatever, will jump to the fore, insisting on entrusting our jacked-up legal system with the ultimate right to inject someone lethally in the name of the law...but...mystically...all protestations and recoilings in horror result, when this same system renders a multimillion-dollar med-mal settlement to some horribly crippled plaintiff.

    {Unless, of course, that's THEIR kid in the wheelchair--then, they want F. Lee Fuckin' Bailey for a lawyer!}

    Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/06/2009 @ 6:23pm

12. I'm sorry, but I disagree, At sixteen you do know on a superficial level, what is horrendous and heinous-yes. but tomorrow you are interested in what color Cami-top to buy at the mall.

    the point is that a person can have categorical knowledge and manipulate it at that age. A boon. the bust is that the muti-layerd thinking required to process and total understand the scope of your actions beyond tomorrow, next week, ten years. That is something that does not come to a child of 14-17.

    You do not need to be raised by Jerry S. To be warped. most of Americas serial killers[ most are white] had a good home, or caring parents at the least.

    Nature and nurture go hand and hand. I think its time that parents and most of all society take responsibility for the environment they allow the young children to habitate in before Society points the finger at the individual. America needs to grow up, and be responsible

    Posted by Moredenhamlet at 11/06/2009 @ 10:01pm

13. Not that different from burning witches and heretics at the stake, is it? Oh, but look how far we've come......

    Posted by DejaVu at 11/06/2009 @ 10:01pm

14. One often hears of the Chicago Way, well this is the Illinois way. From the big city to the smallest hamlet there is no justice. Unless of course you have thousands of dollars for a lawyer, then you'll get a plea bargain, but there's no innocence that doesn't pay. There should be a Class Z felony for public officials whom betray the public trust 20 years without parole.

    Posted by kingcuke at 11/06/2009 @ 10:29pm

15. "We hoped that after the Center on Wrongful Convictions shared our evidence with the Cook County State's Attorney's office, the state would see things from our vantage point, treat the facts with respect and come to a serious conclusion about McKinney's innocence, granting him a new trial or full release. That hasn't happened. "

    "Alvarez insultingly suggested that students might receive better grades for uncovering exculpatory evidence and claimed that Protess and his students were "investigators," not journalists, and thus not subject to the Illinois shield law...Apparently Alvarez has never heard of investigative journalism. "

    Sounds more like the prosecutor has some reason to believe that the "new evidence" may somehow be tainted and wishes to remove all "reasonable doubt"! Question is Ari, why would anyone consider a college professor (teacher) and college students to be journalist or investigative journalist and therefore subject they and their material to protections under the first amendment ? You apparently have no right to privacy as you shared the results already so why hinder the investigation and possible retrial?

    Posted by BigPasture at 11/07/2009 @ 01:15am

16. Seems "discovery" covers the prosecutors request?

    Posted by BigPasture at 11/07/2009 @ 01:16am

17. Posted by BigPasture at 11/07/2009 @ 01:15am |

    Explain why you think the GRADES of the students are a valid discovery request for a crime committed decades ago?

    If you get put on trial and the DA asks for your kindergarten transcripts to establish a pattern of violent behavior, does that dog hunt?

    If the DA believes the evidence is tainted, then the state can put the students on the stand at the new trial.

    Acting as an apologist for this obvious stonewalling pegs you as about as bright as the 16 year olds discussed above.

    Posted by snowball777 at 11/07/2009 @ 08:37am

18. Posted by Denise29 yesterday

    Starting to hear from those who say, "With all its faults our justice system is better than Sudans."

    Posted by Sorelish at 11/07/2009 @ 10:53am

19. Sorelish, Oh great, what a great country!

    Posted by Denise29 at 11/07/2009 @ 11:10am

20. Also of importance here is a recent news analysis I heard on the radio about how prosecutors are immune from any legal repercussions for putting someone in jail... even when it is found that they fabricated evidence or didn't allow evidence to be submitted or considered which could vindicate the accused.

    In short, some prosecutors have lied to put some people in jail... for years. They were making a name for themselves. Yet they never will be held accountable because there's no law that can address the problem. Supreme court seems to have their back as well because of the backup in the legal system that would ensue if litigation were to be allowed.

    Send them flowers. Makes sense to me. Not.

    Posted by ficheye at 11/07/2009 @ 12:27pm

21. Posted by snowball777 at 11/07/2009 @ 08:37am | ignore this person | warn this person

    Or you can't answer the questions posed!

    Posted by BigPasture at 11/07/2009 @ 12:42pm

22. Posted by snowball777 at 11/07/2009 @ 08:37am |

    Or you can't answer the questions posed!

    Posted by BigPasture at 11/07/2009 @ 12:42pm

    I recommend that you go back to cutting and pasting.

    Artificial intelligence.

    Posted by ficheye at 11/07/2009 @ 2:27pm

23. Everyone living in the U.S. today needs to read the recently published book "Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent" by Harvey A. Silverglate about U.S. prosecutorial abuse. They don't care about innocence or guilt... they only care about winning.

    Posted by raebuvuli at 11/07/2009 @ 3:16pm

24. Posted by ficheye at 11/07/2009 @ 2:27pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    Any reasonable and prudent "man" can trump the pseudo-intellectualism of leftist who being soley myopic can't even see the spectrum of questions concerining justice much less provide salient answers.

    Posted by BigPasture at 11/07/2009 @ 3:18pm

25. Posted by BigPasture at 11/07/2009 @ 3:18pm

    I love it when you talk like that.

    Let me know when you are going to teach a class on 'wing nut' rhetoric. You are one of the best.

    I'm serious, "man".

    Posted by ficheye at 11/07/2009 @ 3:36pm

26. Much thanks, ARI, for reporting on this.

    Prosecutors like Alavarez are not unique to Cook County, as the rewards/incentives for prosecutors post-Reagan have been their "conviction rate", not their "getting it right" rate.

    I think it should be illegal to reward prosecutors in this manner as it encourages wrongful convictions. Just like it is wrong to reward the beat cop based on how many tickets he writes or arrests he makes, prosecutors need different incentives and punishment so that justice actually means conviction based on the TRUTH, not conviction by any means necessary.

    Also, prosecutors who were involved in wrongful convictions, especially if they hid evidence, should be disbarred. Period.

    Posted by Metteyya at 11/07/2009 @ 5:41pm

27. To me it sounds like a new trial and investigation is in order. If the students, and they are just that students, nothing more, but if they are correct, then they are to be comnened and given "A"s for their grade.

    And then,... A perfct new job for them....

    Put them in charge of finding out just how bad the Global warming-climate change-atmosphere damage clap trap is, that enriched a bigger felon who should be jailed for life, for causing enormous damage and future pain to the world .......

    ALGORE.

    Posted by YourJomamma at 11/07/2009 @ 7:46pm

28. Posted by BigPasture at 11/07/2009 @ 3:18pm |

    "Any reasonable and prudent 'man' can..."

    You'll never be any of the three, troglodyte.

    "...why would anyone consider a college professor...subject they and their material to protections under the first amendment?"

    <Illinois courts have not ruled on whether the statute covers amateur or hobbyist newsgatherers,...>

    "You apparently have no right to privacy as you shared the results already..."

    You think they submitted their grades to the state DA along with the exculpatory evidence?!

    Posted by snowball777 at 11/07/2009 @ 9:14pm

29. Put them in charge of finding out just how bad the Global warming-climate change-atmosphere damage clap trap is, that enriched a bigger felon who should be jailed for life, for causing enormous damage and future pain to the world .......

    ALGORE.

    Posted by YourJomamma at 11/07/2009 @ 7:46pm

    It has been a while, so I'll bite on this one.

    When these brilliant students are done finding that Al Gore is an upstanding American PATRIOT (good righty term), they can begin an investigation into why folks such as Oliver North and G. Gordon Liddy aren't in prison for treason. Now, yes, Liddy WAS in prison, but doesn't he still belong there? While there at it, they could investigate former president Reagan's culpability in breaking US law while commander-in-chief.

    In a side note, has anyone noticed the right-wing penchant for name calling as argument in these posts? It's right wing ad hominem homilies :)

    I know I'm not here to comment each day ( I have a job where I must WORK often). Yet, it never ceases to amaze me how idiotic the name calling right-wing is... The left doesn't seem to have this gift. Sad.

    Posted by erazma at 11/08/2009 @ 8:04pm

30. The left doesn't seem to have this gift. Sad. Posted by erazma at 11/08/2009 @ 8:04pm |

    Au contraire...I just called Rio a troglodyte one post ago.

    Posted by snowball777 at 11/08/2009 @ 8:39pm

31. Well DuNcE this issue is not supported by you. I can tell because your battered copy of the Constitution did not come up for the students rights. You can barely spell justice and I don't think you know what it is.

    Posted by whatozz at 11/08/2009 @ 9:34pm

32. Or you can't answer the questions posed!---Posted by BigPasture at 11/07/2009 @ 12:42pm

    Ask Rio, a "Bible believer", to cite Titus 3:2 and watch how quiet HE gets.

    heheh

    Posted by Mask at 11/09/2009 @ 07:50am

33. Life's complicated isn't it? Just ask yourself at what age a young person can do the following:

    1. Drive a car.

    2. Serve in the military.

    3. Buy cigarettes.

    4. Avoid the death penalty by being too young.

    5. Have an abortion.

    6. Buy alcohol.

    7. Run for political office.

    8. Fly an airplane.

    9. Buy a firearm.

    10. Drink alcohol.

    11. Fire a firearm.

    12. Get married.

    13. Have sexual relations.

    14. Quit school.

    15. Work at a job.

    16. Enter into a legal contract.

    17. Be tried as an adult.

    Posted by Mistral at 11/09/2009 @ 09:38am

34. While there at it, they could investigate former president Reagan's culpability in breaking US law while commander-in-chief. Posted by erazma at 11/08/2009 @ 8:04pm

    sorry for the grammatical 'there' for they're error....whoops...

    Posted by erazma at 11/09/2009 @ 4:00pm