July 21, 2021- 7:10 p.m.
88 people say they were framed by corrupt ex-Chicago cop Ronald Watts
All 88 petitioners have served their time. They want their record cleared.
“At the time Watts kicked in my door, I didn’t have any money for no attorney,” said Gregory Young, petitioner. “So all I could do was go to court and then end up in the penitentiary. And I’ll never get that time back.”
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has been investigating some of these exoneration requests for three years, others for one year.
“What the state’s attorney told us and said publicly is we’re reviewing them, and it’s our position that they’ve had enough time to review them,” said Joe Flaxman, attorney.
One hundred nine drug cases connected to Watts have already been vacated during the past five years.
“Hoping our 10 volumes of evidence, our 90 page petition will finally achieve a level of justice for so many of those individuals that it’s eluded so far,” Tepfer said.
Watts spent a year and a half in prison after he and another officer in his unit pleaded guilty to corruption in 2013. There is an ongoing CPD internal investigation in others officers associated with Watts who are still on the force.
