18 Exonerated in Chicago’s Second Mass Exoneration

Today, Cook County Chief Judge Leroy Martin dismissed the convictions of 18 people alleged to have been framed by former Chicago police Sergeant Ronald Watts and his tactical unit. Today’s mass exoneration, which involves drug cases brought between 2003 and 2008, brings the total number of Watts-related exonerations to 42. Today’s decision arrives one year after the convictions of 15 men, who Watts and his team similarly framed, were overturned—marking the first mass exoneration in Cook County history. The men accused Watts of extorting, framing, threatening and harassing them, along with other residents of the Ida B. Wells housing project. Related: Lawsuit Claims Chicago Police Sergeant Framed 15 Men for Drug Crimes “We continue to hear that many of these arrests were purely conjured,” said Mark Rotert, the Chief of the State’s Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit. “They were basically arresting people and framing them or…

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