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Freeing
Anthony Porter
By Grace Elting Castle, CLI
In 1982 two young people died in Chicago. Shot at night in a southside park.
It was rumored to be a drug deal gone bad. It was rumored that the two young
people who had gone to the park with them were the murderers. But Chicago cops
don't always go after the person or persons that the neighborhood, and
especially the dead kids' family, knows did the deed. Too often, seeking a way
to get an unpopular troublemaker off the streets, they become blind to the truth
and pin the rap on their "dude."
That's where Anthony Porter came into this picture. He wasn't one of the good
guys, had a reputation with the police and the neighborhood, and was, perhaps,
in the wrong place at the right time. It was, in cop vernacular, "his
turn." Porter was arrested and convicted of the murders despite the lack of
any physical evidence tying him to the crime. There were a couple of
"eyewitnesses" who claimed to have seen Porter commit the murders from
their vantage points nearly the length of a football field away---in the dark.
Black victims, Black defendant "seen" from that distance in an
unlighted park. On that evidence Anthony Porter was sentenced to die.
Since that time he had protested his innocence. His mother and other family
members had protested his innocence, as had the mother of the murdered girl. Not
only had she proclaimed Porter's innocence, but also she had told anyone who
would listen that Alstory Simon had killed her daughter and the young man. The
Chicago cops didn't listen.
After sixteen years in prison, with all appeals exhausted, Anthony Porter was
to be executed by the State of Illinois last Fall. Two days before the execution
date, his attorneys succeeded in getting a stay based upon their claim that
Porter was of such limited intelligence that he could not have assisted in his
own defense at the time of his original conviction. They claimed he had an IQ of
51.
David Protess is an award winning professor at Northwestern University's
Medill School of Journalism, a world- renowned private school on the banks of
Lake Michigan in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. Protess is not the
ordinary tenured college professor. Nor are his classes the usual "write a
news story, any old news story" variety. Seniors vie for the limited spots
in his special classes. They know that they'll have to work hard, but there is
the possibility that some of what they do in this class may help walk an
innocent person off Death Row. It has happened before. Two years ago four
Chicago men, dubbed by the media as the "Ford Heights Four", had
walked out of Illinois prisons after 18 years as a result of one of these class
projects. Two had been on Death Row.
The professor divides his class into smaller groups, perhaps three, four, six
persons. Each group selects one of the cases that Protess has pulled from a
limitless stack of "prison mail" written by inmates exclaiming their
innocence, pleading for help in overturning their convictions.
These students know that their reviews are just as likely to prove the inmate
was probably rightfully convicted, as they are to find someone was wrongfully
convicted. It is their responsibility to thoroughly review the cases and defend
whatever conclusion they reach.
As the class progresses, Protess invites Paul Ciolino and I into the
classroom to present the seminar Paul created several years ago and dubbed
"Ghetto 101"---how to conduct a preliminary investigation without
getting maimed or killed. The sessions also include role playing, acting out
interview scenarios for the most troublesome work the students have anticipated
in their respective cases. These students are mostly Caucasian, usually from out
of state middle to upper class families. The ghettos of Chicago, where the
families of the inmates usually live, and where most of the investigation and
research will take place are completely foreign to these kids who pay more than
$30,000 in annual tuition.
When the students have completed their preliminary work -- reading trial
transcripts, conducting scene visits, reconstructing the crime scene as reported
in the police report, conducting an in-person interview of the
"client" inmate, contacting persons who appear to have useful
information (names quite often provided by the inmate)--our firm is called in to
assist, to perform the "heavy work". Our overriding goal is always,
first and foremost, the safety of the students. No chances are taken. Sometimes
one or more of the students will accompany Paul and the professor on a critical
interview, but if it's considered to be potentially dangerous it becomes a job
for the pros--no students allowed. Sometimes even the professor stays home.
The case of Anthony Porter was one of those adopted by Protess for the fall
1998 class. He hoped the stay might give the student group enough time to
thoroughly evaluate the case. The group went into the project knowing that they
might not get to finish it before Porter was executed.
As the weeks passed, Protess guided his young journalists through the vital
steps, making certain that they were following appropriate protocol in
developing their information and making their analyses. Finally, they had become
convinced by scene reconstruction and preliminary interviews that it wasn't
Anthony Porter who had committed these murders, but most probably it had been
Alstory Simon, possibly assisted by his girlfriend. Ghetto 101 was conducted and
in the next few weeks our firm assisted in locating the vital witnesses so the
students could begin the more complex interviews. When it was determined that
one of the original "eyewitnesses" was dead, and that the other one,
William Taylor, had been contacted by one of the students and an interview
appointment scheduled, it was time for Paul Ciolino to begin to work.
The students were convinced that William Taylor could not have seen what he
had testified to--that fateful testimony that had put Porter on Death Row all
those years ago. Indeed, Taylor confessed to Paul and a student that he had been
pressured by the police to finger Porter.
By this time in the investigation Paul had convinced the producer at Chicago’s
CBS-TV affiliate, Channel 2, to cover this breaking story. William Taylor went
public with his written statement of what the police had done to him, and more
importantly, to Anthony Porter. His statement provided a scoop for Channel 2.
The students had determined that Alstory Simon and his wife were separated,
but that both were believed to still be living in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area.
Simon's address was identified and the students made an attempt to set up an
interview. Predictably, Simon wasn’t interested in any college class projects!
Additional skiptracing identified the residence of Simon’s estranged wife,
Inez. The young journalists paid a visit to tell her that their professor wished
to speak with her. She agreed to a meeting and two days later Protess and two of
the students accompanied Paul to Milwaukee. Before the day was over this woman
had provided a videotaped statement detailing the murders that she claimed her
husband had committed. Another scoop for Channel 2 News.
Of particular interest in her statement was that she claimed to have been
interviewed twice by the investigating Chicago cops, in her home, with Simon
present, as they tried to get her to identify Anthony Porter as the murderer!
She could only tell them that Porter didn't do it. In fear for her own life, she
couldn't tell them they were standing with the real murderer, and they didn't
ask.
With the wife's story now being broadcast across at least the state of
Illinois, it was becoming dangerous for her, her children and grandchildren to
remain in Milwaukee. Concerned that Simon would follow through on previous
threats to kill his wife if she ever told what had happened that night, her
attorney decided that she should be brought to Chicago for protection until
Simon could be interviewed.
Now the investigator was in a quandary. It's one thing to teach young
journalists how to protect themselves while conducting interviews in the street,
but the ball was now firmly in his court. All he had to do was knock on the door
and get a confession from this violent ex-con that had kept his guilt hidden for
all these years! Bluff and bluster, talent, skill, an imposing physique and a
tough guy attitude, and a touch of blind luck --all had served him well over the
years. But this was going to take something else. What? Never one to lack for
ideas, he quickly devised a plan. Uncharacteristically for Paul Ciolino, he had
a plan he was hesitant to try.
After consultating with some of his most trusted and respected investigative
colleagues in the criminal defense world, he made the decision to proceed,
confident that he wasn't planning anything illegal or unethical. One of our
investigators was brought in to role-play on videotape as a "witness"
to the murders. It was Paul’s hope that when confronted with a
"witness" the real murderer would confess to him.
After a brief, and futile, attempt to talk him out of the trip to Milwaukee,
I silently began reviewing all the details Paul had ever mentioned wanting
included in his funeral. It wasn't bad enough he was risking his own life, he
was taking a good friend, one of our senior investigators with him! If his plan
worked, they would be heroes and Anthony Porter would walk off Death Row. If it
didn't, we could be planning the wildest wake Chicago had ever seen.
By the time most people were arriving at their Chicago offices on February
3rd, Alstory Simon's confession was on videotape! The plan that had given Paul
pause actually hadn’t worked too well. They had talked their way into Simon's
house, but the carefully crafted videotape of an "eyewitness" claiming
to have seen Simon commit the murders didn’t elicit anything but an adamant
denial.
But, as Paul continued to talk to Simon, encouraging him to admit to what his
wife had already announced to the world via the videotaped statement broadcast
on Chicago’s television news, the other investigator signaled to him to look
at the television in Simon's living room. Dumbfounded, Paul saw that last night’s
Chicago news was being re-broadcast in Milwaukee at that very moment. As Simon
listened to his estranged wife telling her story, he must have felt the world
crumbling around him. When the broadcast ended, Paul convinced him it was time
to give it up, and to consent to videotaping his confession.
Back in Chicago, a copy of the videotaped confession was delivered to an
ecstatic Channel 2 producer. The media blitz and prosecutorial scrutiny began
almost simultaneously.
A few days later we stood in a courtroom at Chicago’s infamous courthouse
at 26th and California to hear the judge order Anthony Porter
released from prison. The charges weren't officially dropped, however, as the
States’ Attorney requested time to review the new evidence.
The media frenzy at the courthouse was unprecedented, according to security
personnel there. These Chicago stalwarts have seen it all over the years.
There's probably no other city in the United States that has seen as many high
profile and politically sensitive trials and hearings, but this release of a
Death Row inmate due to a videotaped confession taken by private detectives
attracted the attention of every media outlet in the metropolitan areas of
Chicago and Milwaukee, as well as national news stations such as CNN. In the
ensuing days, reporters and camera crews from throughout the world descended on
Chicago, and on our office.
Our investigation file was subpoenaed, Paul was summoned to Grand Jury, and
the "prop tape" became the State's excuse to postpone the dropping of
charges against Porter. Where headlines had heralded the unprecedented
videotaped confession, they now featured a totally inaccurate Associated Press
story of the investigator "who had hired an actor to make a fake tape"
to trick Alstory Simon into making a confession. No matter that the story had no
inkling of truth in it, it spread throughout the world anyway.
Even though the State's Attorney assured everyone that there was no problem
with the conduct of the investigator or the taped confession, the State used the
existence of the "prop" to stall their decision on dropping the
charges against Porter. There were concerns about other convictions for which
Porter was reportedly rightfully serving time. Meanwhile, Alstory Simon
surrendered himself to Chicago officials.
Finally, a few weeks later, Porter was pardoned and Simon was indicted.
In a state where the wrongful conviction rate is embarrassingly high, Anthony
Porter was the tenth person to be released from Death Row. While the State
struggled to a final decision on Porter's fate, the Illinois Supreme Court
released the eleventh man from Death Row, and the City of Chicago agreed to
compensate those four other young, Black, wrongfully convicted men--the
"Ford Heights Four"--nearly 40 million dollars.
The Anthony Porter story, no matter how badly reported by most of the media,
nevertheless put an emphasis on the wrongful conviction problem in our state
that no other case seemed to have been able to accomplish. Politicians were
suddenly interested in listening to arguments for a moratorium on the death
penalty, more people than ever before joined in the street rallies, and the
newspapers were filled with op-ed pieces by judges, professors and activitists.
The videotaped confession of Alstory Simon was played and re-played on
television shows around the world.
The Anthony Porter investigation was done pro bono. As in any pro bono case,
our firm sustained considerable expense that could have been billable in another
case. In addition, there were legal representation costs as a result of the
Grand Jury subpoena. However, until someone can determine that the more than
3500 persons on Death Row in the United States are rightfully convicted,
investigators need to step forward. This firm will continue to do so.
Sidebar #1
An impromptu visit to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A knock on the door. Cordial,
casual conversation with an ex-con. A lucky glance in the mirror ---last night's
TV news is being re-broadcast. Confession on video. "Yeah, Man. I shot them
people." Ok, it's a wrap. Wrongfully convicted man come on off Death Row.
Case over. The kids got the confession--the "Angels of Death
Row"--they solved the case. And their professor. Oh yeah, and some private
investigator from Chicago.
That, or some very similar scenario, is the way the story was sent around the
world. No matter what the Northwestern University students said, no matter what
Professor David Protess reported, no matter what Investigator Paul Ciolino told,
the media played it the way it was needed to capture the attention of their
respective audiences. Numbers and dollars always count. The truth only counts if
it'll sell papers or attract viewers, otherwise it gets "tweaked" to
provide its most glamorous face. The successful businessperson learns to tell a
tale in sexy soundbites. Those who don't are left in the dust of the cameramen's
quickly shuffling feet as the media mob rushes to the next feeding trough.
The glamour wasn't in the "regular" investigative work-up of the
case. For some writers the glamour was in the clever, dangerous trip to
Milwaukee, the unprecedented videotaped confession. But mostly, the media wanted
to pretend that these students did it all themselves. For some of the students,
counting down the days until their own careers will begin, this journalistic
irresponsibility was a major disappointment. They are proud of their
contribution to the team effort that helped to free Anthony Porter, but the dose
of media reality was an unexpected and unwelcome lesson.
Sidebar #2
Analyzing the Potential Wrongful Conviction Case
When approached to review a possible wrongful conviction case, it is
important to put aside any emotional reaction to the person making the pitch.
Secure the basic information necessary for your review, and then send that
person home!
Ask For:
Convicted person’s name, current address, sentence information, date of
conviction and original case number.
Convicted person’s background, including date of birth, race, education,
prior convictions.
Name of judge, court site and whether conviction was by judge or jury.
Brief synopsis of the case, including why the convicted person (or the
representative) believes he/she was convicted. This should include a listing of
any new evidence or witnesses not known, or not used, during the initial trial.
Also included should be information on any motions or appeals filed since the
conviction, with the outcome of each.
Names, addresses and phone numbers of all attorneys involved in the original
case and any subsequent actions. (Including the prosecuting attorneys).
Names, addresses and phone numbers of all investigators involved in the
original case, and any subsequent action.
Copy of all police reports.
If possible, it is also helpful to have a timeline from the convicted person’s
birth through the latest action on the case, but that is not likely to be
available for the initial review.
These are the basics. There may be many other documents to review on any
particular case. Many case reviews will require at least a precursory review of
the trial testimony of the defendant and the key witnesses.
Making these decisions is not an easy task. There are no magical rules,
seldom any clear cut sign that this is, or isn’t, an innocent person. The
investigator has to rely on the instinct that comes from years of experience and
knowledge of human behavior.
(Adapted from "Bringing Professionalism to a Case of the Wrongfully
Convicted" by Grace Elting Castle, CLI ; P.I. Magazine, Fall, 1999)
© 1999 Grace Elting Castle
("Freeing Anthony Porter" was originally
published in Vol. 5, Number 1, Fall 1999 of Focus International magazine.)
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