For my last post I highlighted an interesting case where four men were wrongfully convicted of a double murder in a case that is now known as the Ford Heights Four Case. This case takes place in a suburb of Chicago in the Spring of 1978. A young couple was taken from a gas station and later killed. When the bodies were found they both appeared to be shot, with the women also showing signs of being raped. A terrible crime with a tremendously sad ending leads to people wanting answers and someone to be punished. They arrested four men for this crime; Dennis Williams, Kenneth Adams, Verneal Jimerson, and Willie Rainge. To the police these four young African-American men seemed like the perfect suspects to commit a crime in a majority white suburb. They arrested these men based on information from a guy who lives near the crime scene, and with that and Paula Gray these men didn’t stand a chance. Paula Gray was a teenager also brought in for questioning, who proved to be a key part of the eventual prosecution of the Ford Heights Four. She told the police in a confession that her along with the four men were at the scene of the crime, and the four men all raped her before Williams killed the couple. The reality of this situation is that the police essentially told her what to say. This becomes apparent in the preliminary hearing.
In the preliminary hearings Gray goes back on what she says and tells the court it’s in fact not true. This is the first clear sign of a wrongful conviction in the case. She also claimed the police drugged her to use control over what she said. Ultimately, this wasn’t enough to do anything for most of the men. Jimerson’s case was dropped, they sentenced Williams to death, Rainge received a life sentence, Adams got 75 years, and they gave Gray a 50 year sentence.
With a second trial in 1982 the police still conspired against the men and cut deals with individuals to make certain these men never got out. Paula Gray testified against all four men, even Jimerson, after the police said she’d be free if she did so. David Jackson, an informant, was also offered a deal to testify against them to weaken his sentence, which he did. Combined, these put all the men away once again, and Jimerson, who charges had previously been dropped, was now facing the death penalty.
After this, things turned toward these men becoming free as the truth came to light. Turns out a witness in the crime’s area claimed they had the wrong guys, and that he saw the guys who did it. This report occurred relatively close to the actual crime being committed, yet the police did nothing about it. Jimerson’s case was eventually reversed by the court because of the case clearly being flawed. On top of this, the three men still alive who committed the crime came forward. With that and DNA evidence the Ford Heights Four gained freedom once again in 1996.
Looking at this case, you see a lot of issues with the actions of the police officers involved. Offering people lesser sentences, or even freedom to say something, is a dangerous practice. They can easily be manipulated to say what the officers want, and in this case they were completely manipulated to convict these men. The Ford Height Four were compensated a great deal of money for this case, but at the cost of years of their life. I hope people can learn from this case and see where the Criminal Justice System can go wrong.
Source:
https://www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org/evidence-preservation
