- Editor's note: Wow! An ex gang member gets $80,000.00. The Probate Court of Cook County, GALs Solo , Martin and Judge Kawamoto did not allow any money to bury Alice R. Gore, a disabled 99 year old ward. Her loving family buried her. These probate parasites can really be proud of themselves. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Nathson Fields, a former member of the gang El Rukn, was pleased after his acquittal of murder charges in a 2009 retrial in Cook County. With him was girlfriend Maggie Parr. (John Smierciak / Chicago Tribune / April 8, 2009)
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A federal jury today awarded just $80,000 in damages to a former El Rukn gang member who claimed he was framed in an infamous 1984 double murder that sent him to death row.
Attorneys for Nathson Fields had argued that Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors had conspired to pin the unsolved slayings of two El Rukn rivals on him, including burying a “street file” that could have helped Fields’ defense.
The jury, however, found a lone police former detective -- Sgt. David O'Callaghan -- liable for violating Fields' due process rights to a fair trial during the original investigation. According to trial testimony, O’Callaghan coached witnesses to point out Fields in lineups as the man they saw running from the scene of the murders, even though the gunmen wore ski masks.
After deliberating for several hours on how much to award Fields for the 18 years he spent in prison, the jury awarded him $80,000 in damages that will be paid by the city.
After the announcement, a beaming O’Callaghan told reporters the trial had been “more stress that running into an alley and getting shot at.”
“At least there I have some control,” O’Callaghan said. “Here, 12 people had control of my life.”
Fields said he was disappointed by the jury’s decision. His attorney had suggested in her closing argument that $18 million in damages -- $1 million for each year he’d spent in prison -- would be reasonable.
“How can they say this policeman did that to me and that there was nothing really wrong with it?” Fields said. “Justice has not been served here.”
In testimony Tuesday, Fields said he “found it hard to believe” when he was first being processed into death row at the Pontiac penitentiary and saw the faces of other doomed men looking at him. He said he laid awake at night listening to other prisoners who had “lost their minds,” screaming “like something horrible was happening to them.”
O’Callaghan’s attorney, Daniel Noland, told jurors Tuesday that there was still compelling evidence that Fields committed the double murder.
According to trial testimony, Chicago police purportedly discovered Fields’ street file in 2010 in a filing cabinet at the detective headquarters and sent a copy to city lawyers, who in turn handed it over to Fields' attorneys the next year.
The outdated, yellow-green cabinet -- the subject of a front-page Tribune story earlier this month – was wheeled into U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly's courtroom on a dolly last week so the jury could get a look at it. One by one, the cabinet's five drawers were opened, revealing hundreds of homicide files dating from 1944 to 1985 crammed inside, some more than an inch thick and bursting with what appeared to be notes and papers.
After court today, Fields called on U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon to “seize” the cabinet and numerous others like it and investigate whether other files are being deliberately withheld from men who were wrongfully convicted.
“Look at my trial, you will see how the commanders of the Chicago Police Department have been lying about these street file cabinets,” Fields said.
Fields' legal saga began in 1986 when Cook County Judge Thomas Maloney convicted him and a co-defendant in the slayings. Maloney himself was later convicted of pocketing $10,000 to fix the verdict, only to return the money in the midst of the trial when he suspected the FBI was onto the bribe. Fields was eventually acquitted in a retrial in 2009.
jmeisner@tribune.com
Attorneys for Nathson Fields had argued that Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors had conspired to pin the unsolved slayings of two El Rukn rivals on him, including burying a “street file” that could have helped Fields’ defense.
The jury, however, found a lone police former detective -- Sgt. David O'Callaghan -- liable for violating Fields' due process rights to a fair trial during the original investigation. According to trial testimony, O’Callaghan coached witnesses to point out Fields in lineups as the man they saw running from the scene of the murders, even though the gunmen wore ski masks.
After deliberating for several hours on how much to award Fields for the 18 years he spent in prison, the jury awarded him $80,000 in damages that will be paid by the city.
After the announcement, a beaming O’Callaghan told reporters the trial had been “more stress that running into an alley and getting shot at.”
“At least there I have some control,” O’Callaghan said. “Here, 12 people had control of my life.”
Fields said he was disappointed by the jury’s decision. His attorney had suggested in her closing argument that $18 million in damages -- $1 million for each year he’d spent in prison -- would be reasonable.
“How can they say this policeman did that to me and that there was nothing really wrong with it?” Fields said. “Justice has not been served here.”
In testimony Tuesday, Fields said he “found it hard to believe” when he was first being processed into death row at the Pontiac penitentiary and saw the faces of other doomed men looking at him. He said he laid awake at night listening to other prisoners who had “lost their minds,” screaming “like something horrible was happening to them.”
O’Callaghan’s attorney, Daniel Noland, told jurors Tuesday that there was still compelling evidence that Fields committed the double murder.
According to trial testimony, Chicago police purportedly discovered Fields’ street file in 2010 in a filing cabinet at the detective headquarters and sent a copy to city lawyers, who in turn handed it over to Fields' attorneys the next year.
The outdated, yellow-green cabinet -- the subject of a front-page Tribune story earlier this month – was wheeled into U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly's courtroom on a dolly last week so the jury could get a look at it. One by one, the cabinet's five drawers were opened, revealing hundreds of homicide files dating from 1944 to 1985 crammed inside, some more than an inch thick and bursting with what appeared to be notes and papers.
After court today, Fields called on U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon to “seize” the cabinet and numerous others like it and investigate whether other files are being deliberately withheld from men who were wrongfully convicted.
“Look at my trial, you will see how the commanders of the Chicago Police Department have been lying about these street file cabinets,” Fields said.
Fields' legal saga began in 1986 when Cook County Judge Thomas Maloney convicted him and a co-defendant in the slayings. Maloney himself was later convicted of pocketing $10,000 to fix the verdict, only to return the money in the midst of the trial when he suspected the FBI was onto the bribe. Fields was eventually acquitted in a retrial in 2009.
jmeisner@tribune.com
A federal jury today awarded just $80,000 in damages to a former El Rukn gang member who claimed he was framed in an infamous 1984 double murder that sent him to death row.
Attorneys for Nathson Fields had argued that Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors had conspired to pin the unsolved slayings of two El Rukn rivals on him, including burying a “street file” that could have helped Fields’ defense.
The jury, however, found a lone police former detective -- Sgt. David O'Callaghan -- liable for violating Fields' due process rights to a fair trial during the original investigation. According to trial testimony, O’Callaghan coached witnesses to point out Fields in lineups as the man they saw running from the scene of the murders, even though the gunmen wore ski masks.
After deliberating for several hours on how much to award Fields for the 18 years he spent in prison, the jury awarded him $80,000 in damages that will be paid by the city.
After the announcement, a beaming O’Callaghan told reporters the trial had been “more stress that running into an alley and getting shot at.”
“At least there I have some control,” O’Callaghan said. “Here, 12 people had control of my life.”
Fields said he was disappointed by the jury’s decision. His attorney had suggested in her closing argument that $18 million in damages -- $1 million for each year he’d spent in prison -- would be reasonable.
“How can they say this policeman did that to me and that there was nothing really wrong with it?” Fields said. “Justice has not been served here.”
In testimony Tuesday, Fields said he “found it hard to believe” when he was first being processed into death row at the Pontiac penitentiary and saw the faces of other doomed men looking at him. He said he laid awake at night listening to other prisoners who had “lost their minds,” screaming “like something horrible was happening to them.”
O’Callaghan’s attorney, Daniel Noland, told jurors Tuesday that there was still compelling evidence that Fields committed the double murder.
According to trial testimony, Chicago police purportedly discovered Fields’ street file in 2010 in a filing cabinet at the detective headquarters and sent a copy to city lawyers, who in turn handed it over to Fields' attorneys the next year.
The outdated, yellow-green cabinet -- the subject of a front-page Tribune story earlier this month – was wheeled into U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly's courtroom on a dolly last week so the jury could get a look at it. One by one, the cabinet's five drawers were opened, revealing hundreds of homicide files dating from 1944 to 1985 crammed inside, some more than an inch thick and bursting with what appeared to be notes and papers.
After court today, Fields called on U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon to “seize” the cabinet and numerous others like it and investigate whether other files are being deliberately withheld from men who were wrongfully convicted.
“Look at my trial, you will see how the commanders of the Chicago Police Department have been lying about these street file cabinets,” Fields said.
Fields' legal saga began in 1986 when Cook County Judge Thomas Maloney convicted him and a co-defendant in the slayings. Maloney himself was later convicted of pocketing $10,000 to fix the verdict, only to return the money in the midst of the trial when he suspected the FBI was onto the bribe. Fields was eventually acquitted in a retrial in 2009.
jmeisner@tribune.com
Attorneys for Nathson Fields had argued that Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors had conspired to pin the unsolved slayings of two El Rukn rivals on him, including burying a “street file” that could have helped Fields’ defense.
The jury, however, found a lone police former detective -- Sgt. David O'Callaghan -- liable for violating Fields' due process rights to a fair trial during the original investigation. According to trial testimony, O’Callaghan coached witnesses to point out Fields in lineups as the man they saw running from the scene of the murders, even though the gunmen wore ski masks.
After deliberating for several hours on how much to award Fields for the 18 years he spent in prison, the jury awarded him $80,000 in damages that will be paid by the city.
After the announcement, a beaming O’Callaghan told reporters the trial had been “more stress that running into an alley and getting shot at.”
“At least there I have some control,” O’Callaghan said. “Here, 12 people had control of my life.”
Fields said he was disappointed by the jury’s decision. His attorney had suggested in her closing argument that $18 million in damages -- $1 million for each year he’d spent in prison -- would be reasonable.
“How can they say this policeman did that to me and that there was nothing really wrong with it?” Fields said. “Justice has not been served here.”
In testimony Tuesday, Fields said he “found it hard to believe” when he was first being processed into death row at the Pontiac penitentiary and saw the faces of other doomed men looking at him. He said he laid awake at night listening to other prisoners who had “lost their minds,” screaming “like something horrible was happening to them.”
O’Callaghan’s attorney, Daniel Noland, told jurors Tuesday that there was still compelling evidence that Fields committed the double murder.
According to trial testimony, Chicago police purportedly discovered Fields’ street file in 2010 in a filing cabinet at the detective headquarters and sent a copy to city lawyers, who in turn handed it over to Fields' attorneys the next year.
The outdated, yellow-green cabinet -- the subject of a front-page Tribune story earlier this month – was wheeled into U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly's courtroom on a dolly last week so the jury could get a look at it. One by one, the cabinet's five drawers were opened, revealing hundreds of homicide files dating from 1944 to 1985 crammed inside, some more than an inch thick and bursting with what appeared to be notes and papers.
After court today, Fields called on U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon to “seize” the cabinet and numerous others like it and investigate whether other files are being deliberately withheld from men who were wrongfully convicted.
“Look at my trial, you will see how the commanders of the Chicago Police Department have been lying about these street file cabinets,” Fields said.
Fields' legal saga began in 1986 when Cook County Judge Thomas Maloney convicted him and a co-defendant in the slayings. Maloney himself was later convicted of pocketing $10,000 to fix the verdict, only to return the money in the midst of the trial when he suspected the FBI was onto the bribe. Fields was eventually acquitted in a retrial in 2009.
jmeisner@tribune.com
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