Monday’s ruling by Judge Diane Cannon comes amid heightened scrutiny of Chicago police tactics.
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A judge on Monday acquitted a Chicago police commander accused of shoving his gun down a suspect’s throat, outlining what she said were flaws in the state’s case and stressing that it shouldn’t be conflated…
But the judge says she didn’t buy Williams’ story, pointing to “Ricky Williams’s eagerness to change his testimony to accommodate the evidence”. Both Williams and Evans are African American.
But on Monday, a Cook County judge acquitted Evans on all charges: two counts of aggravated battery and seven counts of official misconduct. Evans is accused of threatening to kill Rickey Williams and shoving hi…
In an unexpected twist, Servin was found not guilty in May after Cook County Judge Dennis Porter said prosecutors should have charged the officer with a more serious offense than involuntary manslaughter.
But Cannon said Williams’ testimony was inconsistent.
“We had wondered why Cmdr”. After a trial, he was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury for falsely denying in a federal civil rights suit that he and others committed torture.
Edward M. Fox, an attorney for Coleman’s family, said the recent release of the video was crucial to winning the lawsuit. That officer was charged with first-degree murder just hours before police finally released the video after being ordered to do so by a judge. “This isn’t about who was telling the truth and who was lying”. And she dismissed evidence thought to be among the most damning Williams’ DNA on Evans’ gun suggesting it was collected so sloppily that that it was of “fleeting relevance”.
The climate of Chicago is not lost on Cannon, who acknowledged that “this is not a good time to try a case like this”, adding that it is never a good time for police misconduct.
After the verdict Alvarez defended her decision to charge Evans.
But Cannon said that the DNA evidence only established that Evans had contact with Williams, something that was not in dispute. “He embellished, he embroidered and he lied like the entire IPRA investigation from start to finish”, Morask said. The state crime lab did not test swabs taken of Evans’ gun for the possible presence of saliva. Evans left the courthouse with no comment, surrounded by blocking guards.
Prosecutors claim that DNA found on Evans’ weapon showed that he shoved the gun in William’s mouth. “It’s a smoking, frickin’ cannon”. “Rickey’s DNA was all over that gun”. His hair was in place, she said.
“My ruling does not pertain to misconduct”, the judge said. The agency also ignored requests to submit Evans’ DNA to state labs, and one employee admitted she wrote a report for Evans’ case 15 months after she conducted an unrecorded interview. The charge alleged that Williams was running with a gun, even though no gun was ever found.
Cannon also made a point of saying Evans’ case has nothing to do with other police brutality cases throughout the country. The footage sparked protests across the city, which led, in part, to the forced resignation of Police Supt.
The police commander then allegedly stuck his gun inside Williams’ mouth and pressed a Taser against the man’s groin. That task was never carried out, however.
The final witness for the defense was Scott Ando, who was recently ousted as IPRA’s chief. Others, though, said Evans symbolized the department’s failure to control its officers. Police officers at the scene disputed the claim.
Williams testified he was tackled in the house, punched in the face by another officer and handcuffed.
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After a long pause, Jones replied: “It could be”.
