State's attorney accused of threatening witness in murder case to chill wrongful conviction cases
A civil rights lawyer accused Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke on Monday of directing prosecutors to threaten the lawyer’s client with perjury to scare him and other potential witnesses from recanting testimony in police misconduct cases.
Jennifer Bonjean told Judge Carol Howard she believed O’Neill Burke did so “to signal there is a new sheriff in town” to defense attorneys representing clients who claim they were wrongly convicted because of police misconduct. O’Neill Burke took office just a month ago.
Bonjean made the comments moments before her client, Wilfredo Torres, took the stand to testify in the case of Tyrece Williams, who was convicted in 1991 of fatally shooting 15-year-old Peter Cruz in Logan Square.
Williams is hoping the judge will grant him a new trial, partly on the weight of Torres’ testimony that he was forced by police to falsely identify Williams as the killer.
Torres had initially been set to take the stand last month, a day after O’Neill Burke was sworn in.
But during a hearing in December, Assistant State’s Attorney Linda Walls, head of the state’s attorney’s post-conviction unit, said Torres should consult with a lawyer before testifying. She explained that she would ask that her office investigate his claims for potential prosecution.
“I don’t know what that decision may or may not be should the Class 3 felony be committed under oath,” the Sun-Times previously reported Walls saying. “But as an assistant state’s attorney, I cannot let a citizen commit a felony without having counsel.”
Bonjean was hired by Torres after the hearing.
On Monday, Walls denied that she or her office had made the comment in order to pressure Torres not to testify, telling the judge she was only suggesting Torres get advice from an attorney before testifying.
“We don’t know what Mr. Torres is going to say on the stand,” Walls said while Torres was outside the courtroom. “There were no threats to Mr. Torres.”
A spokeswoman for O’Neill Burke declined to comment further.
The new state's attorney, a former appellate court justice, walked a fine line as a candidate. She embraced many of the reforms of her predecessor, fellow Democrat Kim Foxx, but also claimed she should take a tougher stance on prosecutions.
Foxx made reviews of wrongful conviction claims a centerpiece of her eight years as state’s attorney, leading her office to drop charges in hundreds of cases where there were allegations of police misconduct.
Torres eventually took the stand Monday and testified that he was a scared 15-year-old when he saw his friend Cruz being attacked by a man and a pit bull.
“Anthony, why you doin’ this to me?” Torres said he heard his friend say. Torres said he wanted to help but ran away when he saw the man pull out a gun and then heard two gunshots.
Torres said former Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara later showed him a picture of Williams and said he had killed Cruz.
Torres said he disagreed, and Guevara punched him in the stomach and slammed him into a wall so hard “I saw stars,” he testified.
Torres said he later identified Williams in a line-up and was allowed to leave. After that, he said Guevara would come to his neighborhood and warn him to show up for the trial.
On cross-examination, Walls questioned Torres if he had ever told anyone before last year that he had falsely identified Wiliams. Torres said he hadn’t.
Walls also pressed Torres on why he didn’t mention Guevara by name in a statement he signed with the Exoneration Project, or write that he had “seen stars" before taking the stand.
When Walls asked if “everything” in Torres' signed statement had been accurate, Torres said he would not answer.
“I would like to answer that question truthfully here today,” he said, reading a prepared statement. “But because the Cook County state’s attorney has threatened to charge me with perjury if I testify truthfully here today, on the advice of my counsel, I reluctantly invoke my Fifth Amendment rights to that question.”
Dozens of witnesses have accused Guevara of using coercion and physical violence to force them to make false identifications in cases.
At least 49 prior cases that Guevara has worked on have folded under scrutiny, though he has not been charged with any crime.
Guevara has refused to testify in those cases, asserting his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
During the hearing Monday, Williams’ defense attorneys played a two-minute video of Guevara repeatedly saying “five” to defense attorneys’ questions during a deposition.
Closing arguments are expected in Williams’ case later this month.