Nine months after an Illinois appeals court called the circumstances surrounding the murder case against a Chicago man “extraordinary” and reversed his convictions, his quest for an on-paper exoneration in the form of a certificate of innocence has been delayed after the Cook County state’s attorney’s office reassigned the case to outside prosecutors.
Kevin Jackson, whose journey for release from prison in a 2001 murder case took many twists and turns, was in court Wednesday as Cook County Judge Erica Reddick granted a request by special prosecutor Fabio Valentini to give the state nearly two more months to respond to Jackson’s petition for a certificate of innocence.
Jackson’s defense attorneys told the Tribune they opposed the delay and questioned the need for spending resources on outside prosecutors — who are private attorneys in their normal course of business — arguing that they believe Jackson’s case for innocence is clear-cut.
In a statement, the state’s attorney’s office said state law allows it to appoint special assistant state’s attorneys, which the office does at times “based upon our staffing and resources.”
“It was totally out of the blue for us,” said Brandon Clark, one of Jackson’s attorneys.
Originally facing a Wednesday deadline, the prosecutors now have until Sept. 29 to respond to Jackson’s 152-page petition, Reddick ordered. At the Leighton Criminal Courts Building, Jackson’s case was one of three involving allegations of misconduct by former Chicago Police Department Detectives Brian Forberg and John Foster and current Detective Kevin Eberle.
Elizabeth Bacon, one of Jackson’s attorneys, told Reddick that Jackson’s petition was “on file for months” and that his legal team was “never notified this would be an issue.”
Jackson was seated in the courtroom gallery during the hearing, and several of his supporters scoffed when Reddick granted the deadline extension. It was not clear when or by what procedure they were appointed, but Valentini told Reddick they had “just received the case.”
“There’s no reason that justice should still be delayed for these guys,” Jasmine Smith, co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, said during a news conference after the hearing. “What we’re demanding is justice. Period. Point blank. We’re not asking them to free people who have been guilty of these charges. We’re asking them to free our loved ones who are innocent.”
Jackson was sentenced to 45 years in prison in the 2001 killing of Ernest Jenkins at a gas station in West Englewood. The Chicago Police Department’s investigation of the murder was led by Forberg and Foster.
A review of the Jackson case by a different group of special prosecutors, previously appointed to examine the evidence on behalf of the state’s attorney’s office, found that the witnesses who later recanted gave “consistent and detailed” descriptions of mistreatment by detectives who have a history of allegations of coercion.
The special prosecutors’ report noted that the state’s case against Jackson in its entirety was based on statements that witnesses gave to detectives, only to then retract at trial, alleging a number of coercive tactics.
One such witness was a pregnant woman who said the detectives threatened that she’d give birth to her child in jail and lose custody if she didn’t name their suspect, the report said. It also said detectives ignored evidence of a different perpetrator.
Any reasonable review of the case, the panel of judges said, would determine “these convictions resulted solely from coerced and false statements.”
Forberg retired from CPD in late 2023 and then started receiving monthly pension payments of more than $5,000, records obtained by the Tribune show. Six months after he retired, the Police Department rehired Forberg as a criminal intelligence research specialist, according to city employment records obtained by the Tribune.
Foster, meanwhile, is now the commander of Area 5 detectives, overseeing the investigations of the most serious crimes on the city’s Northwest Side. Foster faced heavy criticism at a public meeting last week for his involvement in the Jackson prosecution.
City employment records show Eberle remains assigned as a CPD detective.
In a March interview with the Tribune, State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke discussed certificates of innocence generally and said her office has set a high bar for evaluating the merits of such petitions.
Certificates of innocence — or a finding of innocence by a judge — are often sought after an individual’s conviction has been overturned and can be a meaningful step for someone who has been wrongfully convicted. They are also often precursors to lawsuits.
Burke said there’s “a lot of daylight” between the state not being able to prove a case and true exoneration. For a certificate of innocence, she said, the statute puts the burden of proving innocence on the defense.
“We are going to do our jobs and contest it when there is a question of innocent or not innocent,” Burke said. “Just because there are elements of that crime that we will no longer look at it doesn’t mean that person is innocent. If they are, then they have to prove it in a court of law, and that’s where our system works.”
She said she would “happily” allow a certificate of innocence when there is “concrete, irrefutable evidence that this person could not have committed the crime,” such as a DNA exoneration.
Burke, though, said the work of the office’s Conviction Integrity Unit is vital.
“If people don’t have faith in the validity of our convictions, we have major problems,” she said.
Nine months after an Illinois appeals court called the circumstances surrounding the murder case against a Chicago man “extraordinary” and reversed his convictions, his quest for an on-paper exoneration in the form of a certificate of innocence has been delayed after the Cook County state’s attorney’s office reassigned the case to outside prosecutors.
Nine months after an Illinois appeals court called the circumstances surrounding the murder case against a Chicago man “extraordinary” and reversed his convictions, his quest for an on-paper exoneration in the form of a certificate of innocence has been delayed after the Cook County state’s attorney’s office reassigned the case to outside prosecutors.
Kevin Jackson, whose journey for release from prison in a 2001 murder case took many twists and turns, was in court Wednesday as Cook County Judge Erica Reddick granted a request by special prosecutor Fabio Valentini to give the state nearly two more months to respond to Jackson’s petition for a certificate of innocence.
Jackson’s defense attorneys told the Tribune they opposed the delay and questioned the need for spending resources on outside prosecutors — who are private attorneys in their normal course of business — arguing that they believe Jackson’s case for innocence is clear-cut.
In a statement, the state’s attorney’s office said state law allows it to appoint special assistant state’s attorneys, which the office does at times “based upon our staffing and resources.”
“It was totally out of the blue for us,” said Brandon Clark, one of Jackson’s attorneys.
Originally facing a Wednesday deadline, the prosecutors now have until Sept. 29 to respond to Jackson’s 152-page petition, Reddick ordered. At the Leighton Criminal Courts Building, Jackson’s case was one of three involving allegations of misconduct by former Chicago Police Department Detectives Brian Forberg and John Foster and current Detective Kevin Eberle.
Elizabeth Bacon, one of Jackson’s attorneys, told Reddick that Jackson’s petition was “on file for months” and that his legal team was “never notified this would be an issue.”
Jackson was seated in the courtroom gallery during the hearing, and several of his supporters scoffed when Reddick granted the deadline extension. It was not clear when or by what procedure they were appointed, but Valentini told Reddick they had “just received the case.”
“There’s no reason that justice should still be delayed for these guys,” Jasmine Smith, co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, said during a news conference after the hearing. “What we’re demanding is justice. Period. Point blank. We’re not asking them to free people who have been guilty of these charges. We’re asking them to free our loved ones who are innocent.”
Jackson was sentenced to 45 years in prison in the 2001 killing of Ernest Jenkins at a gas station in West Englewood. The Chicago Police Department’s investigation of the murder was led by Forberg and Foster.
A review of the Jackson case by a different group of special prosecutors, previously appointed to examine the evidence on behalf of the state’s attorney’s office, found that the witnesses who later recanted gave “consistent and detailed” descriptions of mistreatment by detectives who have a history of allegations of coercion.
The special prosecutors’ report noted that the state’s case against Jackson in its entirety was based on statements that witnesses gave to detectives, only to then retract at trial, alleging a number of coercive tactics.
One such witness was a pregnant woman who said the detectives threatened that she’d give birth to her child in jail and lose custody if she didn’t name their suspect, the report said. It also said detectives ignored evidence of a different perpetrator.
Any reasonable review of the case, the panel of judges said, would determine “these convictions resulted solely from coerced and false statements.”
Forberg retired from CPD in late 2023 and then started receiving monthly pension payments of more than $5,000, records obtained by the Tribune show. Six months after he retired, the Police Department rehired Forberg as a criminal intelligence research specialist, according to city employment records obtained by the Tribune.
Foster, meanwhile, is now the commander of Area 5 detectives, overseeing the investigations of the most serious crimes on the city’s Northwest Side. Foster faced heavy criticism at a public meeting last week for his involvement in the Jackson prosecution.
City employment records show Eberle remains assigned as a CPD detective.
In a March interview with the Tribune, State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke discussed certificates of innocence generally and said her office has set a high bar for evaluating the merits of such petitions.
Certificates of innocence — or a finding of innocence by a judge — are often sought after an individual’s conviction has been overturned and can be a meaningful step for someone who has been wrongfully convicted. They are also often precursors to lawsuits.
Burke said there’s “a lot of daylight” between the state not being able to prove a case and true exoneration. For a certificate of innocence, she said, the statute puts the burden of proving innocence on the defense.
“We are going to do our jobs and contest it when there is a question of innocent or not innocent,” Burke said. “Just because there are elements of that crime that we will no longer look at it doesn’t mean that person is innocent. If they are, then they have to prove it in a court of law, and that’s where our system works.”
She said she would “happily” allow a certificate of innocence when there is “concrete, irrefutable evidence that this person could not have committed the crime,” such as a DNA exoneration.
Burke, though, said the work of the office’s Conviction Integrity Unit is vital.
“If people don’t have faith in the validity of our convictions, we have major problems,” she said.
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