{"id":1807,"date":"2021-06-17T06:01:29","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T12:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=1807"},"modified":"2023-01-21T23:10:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T06:10:52","slug":"2021-june-16-news-article-after-18-exonerations-john-hanlon-to-retire-from-illinois-innocence-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=1807","title":{"rendered":"2021 June 16 News Article \u2013 After 18 Exonerations, John Hanlon to Retire From Illinois Innocence Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ARTICLE INTRODUCTION COMMENT BY WEBSITE AUTHOR: For those unfamiliar, John Hanlon is an attorney in Illinois that has been spearheading the reversal of Barton McNeil’s wrongful conviction beginning in 2012 and is now retiring. In his place representing Barton McNeil as lead counsel is Karl Leonard of the Exoneration Project. Barton and his family is sad to see John leave but know he will be in the wings ensuring Barton receives the freedom he deserves.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WGLT | By Edith Brady-Lunny<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published June 16, 2021 at 1:22 PM CDT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.wglt.org\/local-news\/2021-06-16\/after-18-exonerations-john-hanlon-to-retire-from-illinois-innocence-project#:~:text=LISTEN,7%3A03<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LISTEN \u2022 7:03<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John-and-Rolando-2.jpg\"\/
John Hanlon, right, has stayed in contact with Rolando Cruz, left, a man he describes as \u201ca great father\u201d to four children.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When John Hanlon started his career as a lawyer in 1983, he knew of only one case where an innocent person had been cleared of a crime: Sam Shepphard, the Ohio physician exonerated in 1966 of killing his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we got a case to work, it was not with innocence in mind,\u201d said Hanlon, who will retire June 30 as executive director of the Illinois Innocence Project at University of Illinois Springfield<\/a>. Over the past 12 years, Hanlon and a team of lawyers, students and volunteers has helped exonerate 18 defendants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea that innocent people were serving time in prison was not a concern for Hanlon and other young lawyers. Innocence projects \u2014 organizations that examine convictions where serious doubt has been raised about a person\u2019s guilt \u2014 did not exist. The game-changing discovery of DNA with a potential to exclude a person as a suspect or identify the real culprit had not been made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBack then, if there was a confession, that\u2019s always bad and the person is undoubtedly guilty. If there\u2019s an eyewitness, same thing \u2014 always really bad and the person is guilty \u2026. How wrong that proved to be,\u201d said Hanlon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1985, as a lawyer with the Office of Illinois Appellate Defender\u2019s Capital Litigation Unit, Hanlon was given a chance to work on his first death penalty case: the appeal of Rolando Cruz\u2019s murder conviction in the rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico in DuPage County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLittle did I know that would really define my career,\u201d Hanlon, 63, said of the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state pushed on with its case against Cruz and three other young men, despite a confession by serial killer and rapist Brian Dugan to the crime. Dugan killed another child and a woman before he was arrested and admitted to killing Nicarico in 1982. Cruz was convicted a second time and granted a third trial before he was acquitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanlon has stayed in contact with Cruz, a man he describes as \u201ca great father\u201d to four children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John
Over the past 12 years, John Hanlon and a team of lawyers, students and volunteers have helped exonerate 18 defendants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The abolition of the state\u2019s death penalty in 2011 ended the need for OSAD\u2019s death penalty unit. Springfield attorney Larry Golden approached Hanlon about coming to work for what was known as the Downstate Innocence Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plenty of cases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Illinois\u2019 cringeworthy track record for locking up innocent people has produced no shortage of cases for the IIP and two other innocence organizations in the state. With 372 exonerations (including four in McLean County), Illinois is second only to Texas in the number of exonerations awarded since 1989. Nationwide, almost 2,800 people have been cleared of criminal charges, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2012, the IIP has received 4,000 requests from defendants claiming innocence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s daunting,\u201d said Hanlon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project turns down about 95% of the requests for assistance. Those that are accepted usually have one or more red flags that raise questions about the conviction, said Hanlon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those red flags: \u201cIs this case supported by anything more than a confession? Is there anything more than an eyewitness? Is there a jailhouse snitch, because sometimes that indicates a little bit of desperation on the part of a prosecutor, if they use a snitch. What county is it from, because wrongful convictions sometimes occur in certain counties more than other counties?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 230 convictions tossed since 1989, Cook County leads the nation among counties with wrongful convictions. Cook County\u2019s horrific history is exemplified by the 2009 establishment of the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission to investigate tactics used by police against suspects, said Hanlon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just terribly sad, but necessary,\u201d Hanlon said of the commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work of uncovering the truth sometimes includes defense lawyers with long-held beliefs about their client\u2019s innocence and police officers who cannot let go of their doubts about a suspect\u2019s guilt. A 2012 letter from two Aurora police officers bolstered Hanlon\u2019s belief that the majority of those working in the criminal justice system support true justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aurora officers pursued information that John Grayson, a man behind bars for 12 years, was innocent. Efforts by the officers and IIP led to Grayson\u2019s release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of those officers and the other officers who do the right thing,\u201d said Hanlon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority of convictions are valid, said Hanlon, and based on legitimate evidence or a defendant\u2019s valid confession. But estimates that about four percent of death row inmates and 11 percent of defendants in all cases are innocent cannot be ignored, noted Hanlon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With about two million people incarcerated in the U.S., the potential that so many innocent people may be serving time \u201cis not acceptable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the services IIP staff provide to clients, the group also works with lawmakers to address the red flags that contribute to wrongful convictions. In 2018, Hanlon helped usher in landmark legislation on jailhouse informants. Pre-trial hearings to determine an informant\u2019s reliability are now required under the legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May, a bill crafted with assistance from IIP attorney Lauren Kaeseberg ended the practice that allows police to deliberately mislead minors during questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an attempt to straighten out the most obvious of the problems, which is there have been some big time, mass juvenile convictions \u2013 groups of three or four young men who have been exonerated. Then the taxpayers are hit with a big bill for a wrongful conviction lawsuit and those lawsuits are valid,\u201d said Hanlon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IIP also works with the Police Training Institute at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a course titled Wrongful Conviction Avoidance. Almost 600 cadets have completed the training that includes presentations by exonerees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few vacations and time with his son, two daughters and grandchildren are on Hanlon\u2019s horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also plans to \u201ccontinue lawyering\u201d after he leaves his post with the IIP. \u201cThere\u2019s too many injustices in too many areas,\u201d said Hanlon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Graphic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Support Nonprofit Journalism<\/a>Community support is the greatest funding source for WGLT. Donations from listeners and readers means local news is available to everyone as a public service. Join the village that powers public media with your contribution<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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