Chicago (CNN)The drug convictions of 15 men in Chicago have been thrown out after they claimed they were framed years earlier by a police sergeant, who went to prison for a related crime, and his team of officers.
The dismissal of charges against the men, who together had 18 convictions, is believed to the first-ever mass exoneration in Cook County, the nation's second most populous county.
"In these cases, we concluded, unfortunately, the police were not being truthful, and we couldn't have confidence in the integrity of their reports and their testimony, and so, in good conscience, we could not see these convictions stand," Mark Rotert of the Cook County Conviction Integrity Unit said in a news conference.
erated in one day -- and 7 Chicago cops taken off the street
By Ryan Young, CNN
Updated 7:49 AM ET, Wed December 27, 2017
chicago charges dropped corrupt cop ryan pkg_00021129
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Exonerations came four years after federal conviction of ex-Sgt. Ronald Watts
Seven other officers were placed on desk duty pending a review of other cases
Chicago (CNN)The drug convictions of 15 men in Chicago have been thrown out after they claimed they were framed years earlier by a police sergeant, who went to prison for a related crime, and his team of officers.
The dismissal of charges against the men, who together had 18 convictions, is believed to the first-ever mass exoneration in Cook County, the nation's second most populous county.
"In these cases, we concluded, unfortunately, the police were not being truthful, and we couldn't have confidence in the integrity of their reports and their testimony, and so, in good conscience, we could not see these convictions stand," Mark Rotert of the Cook County Conviction Integrity Unit said in a news conference.
Seven other officers have been placed on desk duty pending an internal review of more incidents, the Chicago Police Department told CNN. Those officers all worked under Watts, CNN affiliate WBBM reported.
Rotert, of the state's attorney's office, said his team is now reviewing additional cases connected to drug convictions spanning several years.
'They would frame them'
The men whose charges were tossed alleged that Watts and his team of officers planted drugs on them during arrests between 2003 and 2008, then falsified police reports, leading to their convictions, according to the Exoneration Project, a free legal clinic at the University of Chicago Law School that presented the cases to county prosecutors.
A Cook County judge on Thursday approved prosecutors' decision to drop the charges. All the men had served their sentences for the crimes in question, according to the Exoneration Project: 14 are free, and one remains incarcerated on unrelated charges
One of the men, Leonard Gipson, said he was framed by Watts on drug charges and went to jail twice because of the officer.
"If you're not gonna pay Watts, you were going to jail," Gipson recalled. "I went to jail and did 2 years and 24 months for Watts. I came home, and he put another case on me."
Gipson's attorney, Joshua Tepfer of the Exoneration Project, said officers took money from and charged dozens of people for crimes they did not commit.
"They were skimming off people, and anyone who would get in their way, they would frame them," he told CNN. "And anyone who tried to report them, they would frame them."
Watts and then-Officer Kallatt Mohammed pleaded guilty in federal court in 2013 and 2012, respectively, in connection with stealing money from a drug suspect who turned out to be an FBI informant. Watts was sentenced to 22 months in prison; Mohammed got 18 months.
CNN could not immediately reach Watts or Mohammed, who both have served their sentences.
SOURCE : cnn.com