CHICAGO — In 2006, Jermaine Walker was sentenced to 22 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit and that never occurred.
"I don’t want to rehash on the arrest date because it's traumatizing. I still don’t understand why it happened. I don’t know their motives," Jermaine said at a press conference Thursday announcing a federal civil suit against the City of Chicago, four police officers and a former Cook County state's attorney investigator, blaming them for his incarceration.
"It’s been dehumanizing, demoralizing from the very beginning to the end," said Walker.
In March, 10 years into his prison term, the same judge who sentenced him overturned the conviction with a lengthy apology calling Walker's conviction "outrageous."
"On behalf of the entire system, I am so sorry this happened to you,"
Walker was a student athlete on a full-ride scholarship at Fisk University studying computer science and researching superconductivity when he was charged with drug dealing. He was a walk-on for Fisk's basketball and baseball teams, but his journey was postponed on Feb. 21, 2006.
Around 8:30 p.m. that night, Walker and his brother, Russell Walker, were headed to a sister's house on the North Side when they stopped at a J.J. Peppers convenience store near Lawrence Avenue and Sheridan Road in Uptown. After pulling out of the parking lot, Walker said he noticed police lights behind him and pulled into the alley near the Lawrence House apartments, 1020 W. Lawrence Ave., according to his lawsuit.
Chicago Police Officer Eric Reyes approached the car with his gun drawn and demanded Walker's license and registration. He complied, but asked officers the reason for the stop. Without answering the question, Reyes ordered him out of the car to search it, according to the suit.
Walker's attorney, Russell Ainsworth of Loevy & Loevy, said of Walker's question: "He had that right and that right should’ve been respected."
"[Instead, the] officers became enraged that Jermaine Walker was asserting his rights. They became increasingly agitated, and more and more officers came to the scene demanding that he exit his car," said Ainsworth.
Walker refused, "believing that his rights were being violated" and asked to speak with a sergeant. Minutes later, Sgt. Michael White arrived, refused to explain why the stop occurred and also demanded he get out of the car, the suit says.
Eventually, Walker got out of the car "for fear that police officers might do something worse if he continued to assert his rights," Ainsworth said.
When Walker left the car, officers began beating him, the suit says. During the beating, Walker pointed out a security camera to officers that was a part of the Lawrence House's security system, his legal team said.
Walker was charged with possession with intent to distribute narcotics within 1,000 feet of a school. Officers inventoried narcotics, which were later used as evidence, falsely claiming the drugs belonged to Walker, the suit alleges.
Walker represented himself at his trial, telling the judge that central to his defense was a video camera in the alley.
Though the camera was "clearly visible" and had been there for decades, according to Ainsworth, an investigator assigned by the Cook County state's attorney to photograph the alley looking for any cameras, took pictures of the alley with the camera intentionally obscured.
A close-up of the security camera in the alley of the Lawrence House [Courtesy of Loevy and Loevy]
"Further compounding the problem," the investigator, Thomas Finnelly, provided close-ups of anything in his photos that might be appear to be a camera "suggesting that he was so meticulous that he ruled out anything that might actually be a video camera," Ainsworth said.
At the trial, Finnelly and police officers testified that there were no cameras, Ainsworth said. The fact that Finnelly is a former Chicago police officer further skewed the judicial process, said Ainsworth.
"The code of silence prevented the truth from coming out, and they concocted and fabricated evidence to suggest Walker was a liar," Ainsworth said. "We’ve got a broken system when it comes to overseeing acts of police misconduct. Over and over again, the people who are empowered to oversee police and to ensure that they toe the line and don’t commit misconduct side with the police."
Walker was found guilty and sentenced.
"Every single day of those 10 years he woke up knowing he was not supposed to be there," Ainsworth said. "Prison is supposed to be a bad place. It’s supposed to punish those who commit crimes who don’t obey our rules. The problem is Jermaine Walker was sent there for a crime that never happened."
Reproductions of People's Exhibit 8 and 4 at Jermaine Walker's trial. [Courtesy of Loevy and Loevy]
Life after incarceration
Ingrid Gill has helped exonerate three people of wrongful convictions. Walker is her latest. She called his case "the most disturbing" she's seen in 25 years as a public defender, decrying the "testalying" — a term coined for officers lying under oath.
"It has become so proficient, it is now tainting the investigation process of the state's attorney office. A state's attorney investigator, whose oath and loyalty should’ve been to the prosecutor, instead chose to collaborate with the police officers who were lying," she said.
Gill added, "I don’t believe, unfortunately, that this is an isolated case."
The officers and investigator have received 56 complaints among them, but only three incidents were "sustained" resulting in punishment, according to the Citizen's Data Project, which has compiled complaints against officers between 2002-2008 and 2011-2015.
Police Officer Sebastian Flatley received the most complaints during the time periods, racking up 29 for use of force, illegal search, lockup procedures, false arrest and a number of undisclosed complaints. Only one of the complaints was sustained, landing him a 15-day suspension. It was for use of force, according to the Data Project.
Officer Brian Daly was accused 13 times, with complaints ranging from use of excessive force to illegal search procedures. Two of the complaints against Daly were sustained, and he was suspended 14 days, the data shows. Daly was promoted to detective in February 2013.
Sgt. Michael White had 10 complaints stemming from illegal search, personnel violations and use of force, but none of the complaints against him were sustained.
Finnelly had four complaints that were undisclosed and not sustained, the data shows.
Gill successfully argued on appeal that Walkers' due process rights had been violated and provided evidence that a security camera existed the night Walker was arrested. There was no recorded footage, but Walker could have questioned the Lawrence House personnel who monitored the camera.
According to news accounts, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office asked that the conviction be vacated. An apologetic Cook County Circuit Judge Catherine Haberkorn did so, saying "a severe injustice was done here."
A Cook County State's Attorney's Office spokesman said an investigation is underway into testimony at the trial.
Finnelly told the Tribune that he didn't lie on the stand and "that we would never try to cover something up at the state's attorney's office."
A Chicago Police Department spokesman said the Police Department does not comment on pending litigation.
Calling Thursday the first day of justice for Walker, Ainsworth drew parallels to the fatal police-involved shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn.
"Though they involve different circumstances and a different set of facts, they share common traits with what we discovered in Jermaine Walker's case, and that’s police officers devaluing black lives," he said.
At the press conference, Walker wore a cheerful smile and quoted Martin Luther King Jr.: "Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, I'm free at last."
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