4 Black Men Who Spent Years in Prison Are Cleared of Rape and Murder

Innocence Project calls for review of cases involving juvenile confessions in Cook County

By Frederick H. Lowe

Four black men have been exonerated for the 1994 rape and murder of a Chicago woman after the Cook County, Ill., State's Attorney announced on Tuesday that it was dismissing the indictments against all the men because of a lack of evidence.

Michael Saunders, Harold Richardson, Vincent Thames and Terrill Swift, who were known as the Englewood Four, spent much of their adult lives and most of their teenage years in prison for the murder of Nina Glover, a sex worker, a crime DNA evidence proved the four men did not commit.  The DNA evidence, however, pointed to Johnny Douglas, a career criminal, who is now deceased. Englewood is a neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.

In November, Judge Paul P. Biedel, presiding criminal court judge, overturned the Englewood four's convictions and ordered new trials for the men.

Anita Alvarez, the Cook County State's Attorney, said her office dropped the charges after an exhaustive review of all the information and the evidence in the case. "We determined that we do not have sufficient evidence that would enable us to meet our burden of proof and proceed with retrials," Alvarez said in a statement.

Maddy deLone, executive director of the Innocence Project, said the men's convictions were based on false convictions obtained through police coercion.

"They were between 15 and 18 when they were arrested, and without a shred of evidence, they were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 30-40 years in prison," deLone said.  The Innocence Project is a New York-based, national litigation and public policy organization, dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming.

DeLone charged that the prosecution and the conviction of the Englewood Four and others represent a dangerous pattern in Cook County. The Innocence Project has called for a review of all cases involving juvenile confessions.  Alvarez did not respond to deLone's demand.

"In the past four months, 10 people have been exonerated through DNA testing in Illinois after being unjustly convicted based on confessions they gave as teenagers," deLone said.

DeLone also blasted what she calls Alvarez's intransigence.

"Prosecutors knew for nearly a year that DNA testing implicated a convicted murder and cleared the four men, yet they stood by the wrongful convictions. In that time, more than 70,000 people signed a petition, calling for their exonerations," deLone said.

In response, Alvarez said her office agreed last year to additional DNA testing in this case and that evidence, coupled with additional DNA testing, was completed only recently.

In the winter 2011 edition of "The Innocence Project in Print," The innocence Project severely criticized Alvarez for her refusal to move to overturn wrongful convictions.

"Alvarez's resistance is rare," The Innocence Project wrote. "Most prosecutors move quickly to assist the Innocence Project when confronted with DNA evidence of innocence. In 82 percent of DNA exoneration cases, prosecutors consented to post-conviction DNA testing. Indeed, some district attorney's offices have established special units to uncover wrongful convictions."

All four men have been released from prison. "It's been a long time coming and now that it's over, I just want to take it in," Saunders said.

The Innocence Project, the Center for Wrongful Convictions of Youth, the Exoneration Project of the University of Chicago and Valorem Law Group represented the four men.