Suit: Northwestern allowed unethical acts, leading to wrongful conviction
A new lawsuit condemns Northwestern University and a former star professor central to Illinois’ history of wrongful convictions and exonerations, alleging the university allowed a “culture of lawlessness” and unethical conduct among faculty and journalism students who worked to free inmates.
The suit seeking $40 million in damages was filed Tuesday in federal court on behalf of Alstory Simon, who spent some 15 years in prison after he confessed and pleaded guilty to a double-homicide in Chicago. Simon’s confession led to the release of Anthony Porter, who had been on death row for the 1982 slayings.
The case is one of the most significant in Illinois history, since Porter’s release helped spur then-Gov. George Ryan to halt executions, a step toward the abolition of the death penalty in 2011. But the case was upended in October when Cook County prosecutors agreed to throw out Simon’s conviction, citing questions about the methods used to obtain his confession.
The suit alleges that former professor David Protess, a private investigator who worked with him and a lawyer conspired to frame Simon as part of an effort to free Porter from prison. The suit alleges Protess and the investigator manufactured bogus evidence, coaxed false statements from witnesses, intimidated Simon into confessing and set him up with a lawyer, Jack Rimland, who coached him to plead guilty.
The university, the suit claims, allowed unethical acts by students and Protess, who taught investigative reporting at Northwestern’s prestigious journalism school and founded the Medill Innocence Project, a key engine of the often successful local movement to unearth injustices. Simon’s suit alleges students working with Protess — who left the school in 2011 amid acrimony over his purported methods — gave witnesses money for drugs, lied about their identities and flirted with witnesses.
Protess, his students and investigator Paul Ciolino crossed ethical lines “in a zeal to create a poster boy for abolition of the death penalty,” said Terry Ekl, Simon’s lawyer, in a telephone interview.
“I think David Protess was way off the rails,” said Ekl, a former prosecutor.
Ciolino called the suit a “legalized version of a holdup for a big payday.” In a written statement, he said Porter was unjustly convicted and denied that Simon’s confession was coerced, noting that he also confessed at sentencing. Ciolino also pointed out that the suit didn’t go after law enforcement authorities for the wrongful conviction as so often happens in such cases.
“Last I checked, none of us had the ability to charge a suspect, plea bargain, take a case to trial or convict an inmate,” he wrote. “I don’t have to read this lawsuit to know it is frivolous.”
Northwestern spokesman Alan K. Cubbage said the university was reviewing the suit, but he declined to comment beyond denying wrongdoing by the university and predicting vindication in court.
Neither Rimland nor Protess could be reached for comment. Both have previously denied wrongdoing.
The case’s winding history stretches back to August 1982 when Jerry Hillard and Marilyn Green were shot dead on Chicago’s South Side. Witnesses implicated Porter, who had a low IQ and a criminal record, and he was convicted and sentenced to death.
Porter, who at one point had come within days of execution, was still on death row at the time of the dramatic revelation that Simon had confessed on video to the private investigator. Confronted with the video, prosecutors quickly agreed to Porter’s release. Simon pleaded guilty to the murders and a judge sentenced him to 37 years in prison. He tearfully apologized for the murders at sentencing.
Ryan has said he found Porter’s exoneration jarring. He halted executions less than a year later, though he has noted there were other clear indications of the death penalty’s shortcomings.
Porter’s release also added to the fame of Protess, a heralded professor known for leading teams of students who helped free inmates who claimed innocence. The university promoted Protess’s work and used it in fundraising literature, and his student investigations’ led to more than 10 inmates wrongly convicted of murder being freed from prison.
Protess exited the university amid allegations that he had intentionally misled the school in a different case. He also started the Chicago Innocence Project, a nonprofit intended to do similar work. The Northwestern project he had founded years earlier, now known as the Medill Justice Project, continues under new leadership at the university.
In 2013, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, who had clashed with Protess in another contested criminal case years before, agreed to review Simon’s case.
In late October, Alvarez announced her office would let Simon go free. She said she could not determine who killed the victims, but the review by her Conviction Integrity Unit raised serious doubts about the tactics used to secure Simon’s confession, and she questioned Rimland’s independence in representing him. It was clear, she said, that Simon’s rights had not been carefully protected. Simon, now 64, walked free from a downstate prison.
The lawsuit echoes and expands on Alvarez’s contentions.
Its centerpiece is the claim that Protess, Ciolino and the students coaxed false statements out of witnesses and bullied a confession out of Simon. The suit accuses Ciolino of impersonating a police officer, confronting Simon while armed, showing him a video of an actor falsely claiming to have witnessed the killing and telling Simon he could avoid the death penalty if he confessed to shooting the victims in self-defense. Ciolino promised Simon legal representation and large sums of money from book and movie deals if he gave a statement, the suit alleged.
Simon was under duress and the influence of narcotics when he confessed, the suit claimed.
Rimland told Simon the case against him was solid and that he had no choice but to take the plea deal, according to the lawsuit.
The suit also alleged that Protess and Ciolino had engaged in similarly unethical and deceptive practices while earlier leading student investigations into the conviction of the Ford Heights Four. Ciolino once donned a sharkskin suit and, in Protess’ presence, falsely portrayed Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer in an attempt to lead a key witness to think he could reap huge financial rewards for changing his testimony, according to the suit.
Simon’s lawyers blame Northwestern for tolerating the conduct. The suit alleges that the school replaced Dean Michael Janeway with Ken Bode in the late 1990s after Janeway voiced concern about the lack of oversight over Protess and Ciolino.
The suit seeking $40 million in damages was filed Tuesday in federal court on behalf of Alstory Simon, who spent some 15 years in prison after he confessed and pleaded guilty to a double-homicide in Chicago. Simon’s confession led to the release of Anthony Porter, who had been on death row for the 1982 slayings.
The case is one of the most significant in Illinois history, since Porter’s release helped spur then-Gov. George Ryan to halt executions, a step toward the abolition of the death penalty in 2011. But the case was upended in October when Cook County prosecutors agreed to throw out Simon’s conviction, citing questions about the methods used to obtain his confession.
The suit alleges that former professor David Protess, a private investigator who worked with him and a lawyer conspired to frame Simon as part of an effort to free Porter from prison. The suit alleges Protess and the investigator manufactured bogus evidence, coaxed false statements from witnesses, intimidated Simon into confessing and set him up with a lawyer, Jack Rimland, who coached him to plead guilty.
The university, the suit claims, allowed unethical acts by students and Protess, who taught investigative reporting at Northwestern’s prestigious journalism school and founded the Medill Innocence Project, a key engine of the often successful local movement to unearth injustices. Simon’s suit alleges students working with Protess — who left the school in 2011 amid acrimony over his purported methods — gave witnesses money for drugs, lied about their identities and flirted with witnesses.
“I think David Protess was way off the rails,” said Ekl, a former prosecutor.
Ciolino called the suit a “legalized version of a holdup for a big payday.” In a written statement, he said Porter was unjustly convicted and denied that Simon’s confession was coerced, noting that he also confessed at sentencing. Ciolino also pointed out that the suit didn’t go after law enforcement authorities for the wrongful conviction as so often happens in such cases.
“Last I checked, none of us had the ability to charge a suspect, plea bargain, take a case to trial or convict an inmate,” he wrote. “I don’t have to read this lawsuit to know it is frivolous.”
Neither Rimland nor Protess could be reached for comment. Both have previously denied wrongdoing.
The case’s winding history stretches back to August 1982 when Jerry Hillard and Marilyn Green were shot dead on Chicago’s South Side. Witnesses implicated Porter, who had a low IQ and a criminal record, and he was convicted and sentenced to death.
Porter, who at one point had come within days of execution, was still on death row at the time of the dramatic revelation that Simon had confessed on video to the private investigator. Confronted with the video, prosecutors quickly agreed to Porter’s release. Simon pleaded guilty to the murders and a judge sentenced him to 37 years in prison. He tearfully apologized for the murders at sentencing.
Porter’s release also added to the fame of Protess, a heralded professor known for leading teams of students who helped free inmates who claimed innocence. The university promoted Protess’s work and used it in fundraising literature, and his student investigations’ led to more than 10 inmates wrongly convicted of murder being freed from prison.
Protess exited the university amid allegations that he had intentionally misled the school in a different case. He also started the Chicago Innocence Project, a nonprofit intended to do similar work. The Northwestern project he had founded years earlier, now known as the Medill Justice Project, continues under new leadership at the university.
In 2013, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, who had clashed with Protess in another contested criminal case years before, agreed to review Simon’s case.
In late October, Alvarez announced her office would let Simon go free. She said she could not determine who killed the victims, but the review by her Conviction Integrity Unit raised serious doubts about the tactics used to secure Simon’s confession, and she questioned Rimland’s independence in representing him. It was clear, she said, that Simon’s rights had not been carefully protected. Simon, now 64, walked free from a downstate prison.
The lawsuit echoes and expands on Alvarez’s contentions.
Its centerpiece is the claim that Protess, Ciolino and the students coaxed false statements out of witnesses and bullied a confession out of Simon. The suit accuses Ciolino of impersonating a police officer, confronting Simon while armed, showing him a video of an actor falsely claiming to have witnessed the killing and telling Simon he could avoid the death penalty if he confessed to shooting the victims in self-defense. Ciolino promised Simon legal representation and large sums of money from book and movie deals if he gave a statement, the suit alleged.
Simon was under duress and the influence of narcotics when he confessed, the suit claimed.
Rimland told Simon the case against him was solid and that he had no choice but to take the plea deal, according to the lawsuit.
The suit also alleged that Protess and Ciolino had engaged in similarly unethical and deceptive practices while earlier leading student investigations into the conviction of the Ford Heights Four. Ciolino once donned a sharkskin suit and, in Protess’ presence, falsely portrayed Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer in an attempt to lead a key witness to think he could reap huge financial rewards for changing his testimony, according to the suit.
Simon’s lawyers blame Northwestern for tolerating the conduct. The suit alleges that the school replaced Dean Michael Janeway with Ken Bode in the late 1990s after Janeway voiced concern about the lack of oversight over Protess and Ciolino.
dhinkel@tribpub.com
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