FOP calls on next top prosecutor to reinstate indictment in case vacated due to discovery violations

After a circuit court judge vacated the conviction of man who has spent the last 11 years behind bars based upon advice that the state's attorney's office would dismiss the case, the Fraternal Order of Police said that it would push for him to be reindicted when the next state's attorney takes over in December.

"The winner of the state's attorney's race, which we expect to be Judge O'Neill Burke, absolutely needs to pledge publicly that she is going to reindict and retry this case as soon as she is in office, FOP president John Catanzara said at a press conference following a high drama hearing Wednesday afternoon.

"If not, she will not have FOP support."

Alexander Villa is the last of three men to be cleared of charges for the December 2011 murder of Clifton Lewis, a Chicago police officer shot by two masked men during an armed robbery at a convenience store where he worked a second job as a security guard.

“I know you are disappointed but if there is not enough evidence, there is not enough evidence,” Judge Carol Howard told a courtroom filled with Lewis's family, and supporters representing the FOP. Howard paused the hearing to allow Lewis's family to speak to State's Attorney Kim Foxx about the office's decision to dismiss charges.

Also filling the wooden benches in Howard's courtroom on the seventh floor of George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse were Villa's supporters who wore black t-shirts featuring a screenshot of Villa attending a hearing while housed at the Department of Corrections and the words "Wrongful Conviction." In the years since he has been incarcerated, supporters built a website that posted the evidence they say proves Villa couldn't have committed the crime.

Villa supporters acknowledged that the decade-long flawed prosecution has been traumatic for both families.

"There's two victims in this situation: the person who was wrongfully convicted for something that he didn't do, and you have a family that's suffering the loss of their loved one. No one wins," Villa's sister Melissa Villa said.

Villa was taken into custody on Oct. 2, 2013 and found guilty by trial in 2019, which included as evidence grainy video footage in which prosecutors directed jurors to a tattoo on the shooter's neck to implicate Villa.

After Villa's conviction, his defense counsel asked a judge to grant permission to review the police investigative files.

According to a brief filed by defense attorney Jennifer Blagg, in the months after Villa was sentenced, prosecutors said they found a misfiled disc in a folder of recorded jail calls that contained an FBI cell tower analysis that showed Villa was texting his girlfriend at the time of the shooting. This disk, which was among files being boxed up to send to a warehouse for storage, only was obtained through a subpoena to the FBI, according to courtroom documents.

At Wednesday's post-conviction hearing, defense attorneys accused police and prosecutors of coercing confessions, making up evidence and ignoring the FBI-generated cellphone tower map that showed Villa and the other two men police charged miles away from the crime scene.

"The men are mapped everywhere but where the crime happened," Blagg said.

In 2023, the state dismissed the cases against the other two men because of constitutional violations during the investigation, including police refusing to give them access to counsel during interrogations that yielded confessions.

Regarding its dismissal of Villa's case the state's attorney's office said in a statement:

After the sentencing of Alexander Villa for the 2011 murder of Officer Clifton Lewis, our office discovered evidence that had not been previously or timely provided to the defense. This information is potentially exculpatory, material, and relevant to a jury's evaluation of the case, and therefore, we are compelled to agree to vacate this conviction and dismiss the charges.

We acknowledge the pain and frustration this causes the family of Officer Lewis, who deserves to be remembered for his dedicated service to the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago rather than for procedural errors that have marred our pursuit of justice and accountability.

While this is heartbreaking, prosecutors have the responsibility to not only find justice for the harmed but also uphold the constitutional rights of the accused.

In this instance, we fell short. We are actively working to learn from the chain of events that has led us to this point so that we can make necessary improvements to our systems and ensure this does not happen again."

Lawyers for Lewis's family criticized the state's attorney's office for declining to pursue charges and called on it to instead retry Villa, who is expected to be released from Lawrence Correctional Center, a prison five hours south of Chicago on Thursday, October 3.

Stay tuned for updates.