Political Influence and Wrongful Conviction in Chicago

In Illinois State Police Lieutenant assigned to investigate the potential wrongful conviction of two men for murder claimed he was stopped from investigating the real suspect because of the suspect's connections to then Illinois Governor George Ryan.  Two men were convicted for the 1986 murder of a newlywed couple; one has since been released from death row on a habeas petition and was not retried; the other is still trying to get out.   The allegations came in the context of the lieutenant's civil suit against the department for demoting him, he says, in retaliation for his pursuit of the real killer. Oped here.  [Jack Chin]