{"id":51730,"date":"2017-02-15T22:10:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T04:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=51730"},"modified":"2017-02-16T07:35:15","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T13:35:15","slug":"marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Marquette Park 4\u2019s exoneration marks milestone for Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kara Voght<\/strong><\/p>\n

Theresa Johnson knew there was no way her son, Charles, committed the robbery and murder he\u2019d been convicted of. Convincing others of his innocence, however, was another matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody would just close the door practically in my face,\u201d Johnson said of her repeated attempts to obtain legal help for Charles, who, along with three other men, spent over 20 years in prison for a 1995 double murder and armed robbery they did not commit.<\/p>\n

State\u2019s Attorney Kim Foxx rewarded Johnson\u2019s decades of persistence Wednesday morning when she dismissed all charges against Charles Johnson, Larod Styles, Lashawn Ezell and Troshawn McCoy after fingerprint evidence conclusively proved their innocence.\u00a0 McCoy, sentenced to 55 years in prison, is awaiting his release from the Illinois Department of Corrections.<\/p>\n

The \u201cMarquette Park 4,\u201d as their attorneys call them, entered prison as teenagers and spent a collective 70 years behind bars.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday afternoon, Johnson, Styles and Ezell appeared in a press conference at Kirkland & Ellis LLP\u2019s Chicago office, alongside their legal teams and nearly two dozen family members, to discuss their cases.<\/p>\n

\"Theresa
Theresa Johnson embraces her son, Charles, at Wednesday’s press conference to discuss Johnson and three other men’s exoneration. (Kara Voght\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Marquette Park 4\u2019s journey to exoneration began in 2008, when Steven Drizin of the Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law received a letter from Charles Johnson. Johnson described giving a false confession to detective James Cassidy, a story that matched many other letters Drizin had received from inmates across the state.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

According to Drizin, Cassidy employed psychological interrogation techniques that led young men like Johnson to confess to crimes they didn\u2019t commit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of these young people thought they were going home after signing confessions,\u201d Drizin said.<\/p>\n

Justin Barker, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP who joined Johnson\u2019s case, noted these signed confessions mark the end of most legal battles.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce there is a quote-unquote confession, all too often the investigation, for all intents and purposes, ceases,\u201d Barker said.<\/p>\n

Reigniting the investigation required thousands of donated hours from city attorneys. Jenner & Block LLP, Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP, Cotsirilos, Tighe, Streicker, Poulos & Campbell and the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago joined Drizin and Barker in the effort.<\/p>\n

The fingerprint evidence supporting the men\u2019s innocence came from sales stickers removed from the cars stolen in the case. Those stickers, which captured fingerprints of the real criminals on their adhesive sides, offered compelling evidence for a retrial and, under Foxx\u2019s tenure as state\u2019s attorney, the dismissal of charges.<\/p>\n

\"Attorney
Attorney Justin Barker showcases a sticker similar to those that proved the Marquette Park 4’s innocence. (Kara Voght\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Marquette Park 4\u2019s exoneration is the first ever in Illinois to result from defendant-sought fingerprint comparison. Illinois is the only state in the country that considers fingerprint and ballistics comparisons, in addition to DNA evidence, post-conviction.<\/p>\n

Charles Johnson expressed his relief for freedom he hasn\u2019t seen since his teenage years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a long journey,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThere were times when we almost wanted to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what comes next, Johnson said the Marquette Park 4 is looking forward to moving on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t live for the past, but I can definitely live for the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Lashawn Ezell, Larod Styles and Charles Johnson,\u00a0 flanked by family members and attorneys, discuss Wednesday\u00a0 their exoneration of a 1995 double murder and robbery. (Kara Voght\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kara Voght Theresa Johnson knew there was no way her son, Charles, committed the robbery and murder he\u2019d been convicted of. Convincing others of his innocence, however, was another matter. \u201cEverybody would just close the door practically in my face,\u201d Johnson said of her repeated attempts to obtain legal help for Charles, who, along […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":369,"featured_media":51776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,30,675,3516],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-51730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-public-affairs","category-social-justice","category-winter-2017","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nMarquette Park 4\u2019s exoneration marks milestone for Illinois - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marquette Park 4\u2019s exoneration marks milestone for Illinois - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kara Voght Theresa Johnson knew there was no way her son, Charles, committed the robbery and murder he\u2019d been convicted of. Convincing others of his innocence, however, was another matter. \u201cEverybody would just close the door practically in my face,\u201d Johnson said of her repeated attempts to obtain legal help for Charles, who, along […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-16T04:10:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-16T13:35:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/IMG_3195-1-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"591\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"karavoght2017\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"karavoght2017\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/\",\"name\":\"Marquette Park 4\u2019s exoneration marks milestone for Illinois - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/IMG_3195-1-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-16T04:10:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-16T13:35:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/c755c0299b6c1096db9bc1d90b5f1a0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/IMG_3195-1-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/IMG_3195-1-1.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":591,\"caption\":\"Lashawn Ezell, Larod Styles and Charles Johnson stand with family and legal team to speak about their exoneration Wednesday afternoon. (Kara Voght\/MEDILL)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Marquette Park 4\u2019s exoneration marks milestone for Illinois\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/c755c0299b6c1096db9bc1d90b5f1a0b\",\"name\":\"karavoght2017\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d98fee60823c9f11fc6273adc4bb0f1f698ac3618c9e97ff449b1bdd2262bd46?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d98fee60823c9f11fc6273adc4bb0f1f698ac3618c9e97ff449b1bdd2262bd46?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"karavoght2017\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/karavoght2017\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Marquette Park 4\u2019s exoneration marks milestone for Illinois - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Marquette Park 4\u2019s exoneration marks milestone for Illinois - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Kara Voght Theresa Johnson knew there was no way her son, Charles, committed the robbery and murder he\u2019d been convicted of. Convincing others of his innocence, however, was another matter. \u201cEverybody would just close the door practically in my face,\u201d Johnson said of her repeated attempts to obtain legal help for Charles, who, along […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2017-02-16T04:10:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-02-16T13:35:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":591,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/IMG_3195-1-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"karavoght2017","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"karavoght2017","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/","name":"Marquette Park 4\u2019s exoneration marks milestone for Illinois - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/IMG_3195-1-1.jpg","datePublished":"2017-02-16T04:10:58+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-16T13:35:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/c755c0299b6c1096db9bc1d90b5f1a0b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/IMG_3195-1-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/IMG_3195-1-1.jpg","width":1100,"height":591,"caption":"Lashawn Ezell, Larod Styles and Charles Johnson stand with family and legal team to speak about their exoneration Wednesday afternoon. (Kara Voght\/MEDILL)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/marquette-park-4s-exoneration-marks-milestone-for-illinois\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Marquette Park 4\u2019s exoneration marks milestone for Illinois"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/c755c0299b6c1096db9bc1d90b5f1a0b","name":"karavoght2017","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d98fee60823c9f11fc6273adc4bb0f1f698ac3618c9e97ff449b1bdd2262bd46?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d98fee60823c9f11fc6273adc4bb0f1f698ac3618c9e97ff449b1bdd2262bd46?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"karavoght2017"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/karavoght2017\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/369"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}