Juvenile Sentencing and Forensic Science
BY CURTIS BLACK
Adam Gray was released from prison May 3, more than two decades after he received a mandatory sentence of life without parole for arson and murder.
Gray, now 38, was 14 when he was arrested and charged. He quickly recanted a confession he gave after seven hours of high-pressure questioning. Police “were not receptive to anything I had to say until I said what they wanted me to say,” he recalled at a press conference last week.
Based on advances in fire science, which discredited investigators’ conclusion that an accelerant was used to set the fire, then-State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez moved for a new trial for Gray last year. But in an apparently unprecedented decision, Judge Angela Petrone rejected testimony by fire experts and denied the motion. This year newly-elected State’s Attorney Kim Foxx filed a joint Appellate Court motion with defense attorneys to dismiss charges and release Gray.
Gray was the third Illinois prisoner with a mandatory life-without-parole sentence received as a juvenile to be released based on innocence claims in recent years, said Shobha Mahadev of the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University’s law school. Mahadev is project director of the Illinois Coalition for Fair Sentencing of Children.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles unconstitutional in 2012, and subsequent court decisions granted individuals serving such sentences the right to resentencing hearings. Courts in Illinois have resentenced nearly 20 of about 80 prisoners in this category, Mahadev estimated. In two cases life sentences were affirmed — one by Judge Petrone, in another unusual ruling which characterized scientific findings on adolescent development as “speculative.”
The Supreme Court did not rule on non-mandatory life sentences for juveniles (imposed at a judge’s discretion), but nineteen states have banned any form of life sentence for juveniles. Illinois is not one of them.
“The United States stands alone as the only nation that sentences people to life without parole for crimes committed before turning 18,” according to the Sentencing Project. In Illinois, children as young as 13 can be sentenced to life without parole.
Meanwhile Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he was ending the Justice Department’s partnership with the National Commission on Forensic Science. The commission has recommended that courts question the admissibility of a variety of techniques commonly used to secure convictions.
In recent years, hundreds of convictions have been overturned as research scientists have exposed faulty forensics, and tens of thousands of convictions have been thrown into doubt as crime lab abuses have come to light.
As a senator, Sessions defended longstanding forensic techniques and warned the Justice Department against “micromanaging” forensic practices.
Video policy compromised
The city’s new transparency policy calls for posting video of police shootings within 60 days, with the possibility of one 30-day delay, specifying that the city “will not honor any further requests to delay release beyond the initial request.” But so far this year, that’s happened in just two of five such incidents, the Chicago Tribune reports.
In two cases, judges blocked release of video in response to motions by defense attorneys. In the third case, city lawyers agreed to a further delay requested by prosecutors. When that video was finally posted, according to the Tribune, it turned out that “the footage largely shows the aftermath of the shooting from a distance, raising questions as to why prosecutors contended the video needed to be withheld.”
Traffic stop quota challenged
A district commander’s memo that appeared to set quotas for traffic stops may have violated a state law prohibiting municipalities from requiring officers “to issue a specific number of citations within a designated time,” according to Karen Sheley of the ACLU.
The Chicago Police Department defended Commander Anthony Escamilla of the Grand Crossing District, saying he “outlined parameters of the District’s traffic missions, designed to combat a rise in vehicle related shootings.”
The directive “raises concerns that officers may engage in stops that may not be justified,” with potential negative repercussions for community relations, Sheley said.
Police board gets tough
No officers were cleared of misconduct by the Police Board last year, a sharp reversal of the board’s past record, when it frequently overturned disciplinary recommendations by the police superintendent. Of 15 officers who went before the board last year, seven were discharged, one was suspended, and seven resigned. The reversal reflects a tougher stance by the Police Board under president Lori Lightfoot, who was appointed in 2015.
No oversight for moonlighting cops
Chicago has the weakest oversight of secondary employment of any of the nation’s 50 largest local law enforcement agencies, according to the Chicago Reporter. CPD is the only police department that does not require officers to get permission to take second jobs, in apparent violation of mandates by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.
City lawyers have defended at least four lawsuits alleging misconduct by officers working second jobs, and the city has paid out more than $100,000 — and could be on the hook for over $300,000 in another lawsuit.
The Reporter cites the Justice Department’s investigation of CPD, which found that “a significant amount of alleged misconduct” occurs on second jobs. The department cites provisions in contracts with police unions for limiting oversight.
Vol. 2, Issue 41: Chicago’s Criminal Justice Playbook
