Vol. 2, Issue 71: Chicago's Criminal Justice Playbook
At Issue: Clashes Follow Police Shooting
Less than 24 hours after the fatal shooting of Harith Augustus on Saturday night—and following a night of tense clashes between police and protesters—the Chicago Police Department (CPD) released a brief video of the shooting (WBEZ).
The 20-second video, which was released without audio, includes a several-second pause during which Augustus’s holstered sidearm is visible. Superintendent Eddie Johnson stated that the video was released to counter claims that Augustus was unarmed (Chicago Tribune).
“The video isn’t likely to convince protesters,” wrote columnist Mary Mitchell. “The question at the heart of this deadly encounter” is, “Why can’t a Black man, who isn’t bothering anyone, walk down the street in his own neighborhood without being accosted by police?” (Chicago Sun-Times).
The video begins with Augustus attempting to show officers his wallet. An officer grabs his arm, and he pulls away, running into the street and “spinning around off balance” (Chicago Tribune).
Without audio, it is impossible to determine the nature of the interaction preceding the shooting—or whether an officer had already begun shooting when Augustus appeared to reach for his weapon.
CPD spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi stated that officers “observed a man exhibiting characteristics of an armed person.” When they attempted to question him, “a confrontation ensues and he is shot.”
A witness told the Chicago Sun-Times that the incident began when Augustus handed cigarettes to his aunt, prompting officers to approach him on suspicion of selling loose cigarettes. “The argument escalated and the officer fired as [Augustus] ran away,” according to her account (Chicago Sun-Times).
Johnson stated that CPD is reviewing “tons” of video footage of the incident. Activist William Calloway submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all relevant video.
Police stated that Augustus had a gun permit but not a concealed carry permit. His record included only three minor arrests, all over a decade old, with no convictions. The 37-year-old barber was consistently described by acquaintances as “quiet” (Chicago Sun-Times).
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) is investigating the shooting and has asked witnesses to call 312-746-3609.
Additionally, the ACLU called on COPA to investigate police use of force against protesters and observers following the shooting.
Protests began within minutes of the shooting, witnesses told the Chicago Sun-Times, and it took police five hours to clear the area. Chicago Sun-Times reporter Nader Issa tweeted that he was “shoved to the ground by two cops who smacked my cell phone out of my hand.” That occurred as “police rushed the protesters, who had been throwing bottles,” and police “started hitting people” (Twitter).
CPD reported that four officers sustained minor injuries from thrown bottles and rocks, and four protesters were arrested, one charged with multiple felonies.
NEW INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR PUBLIC SAFETY
A former executive director of the police watchdog organization Citizens Alert has been named Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety. Joseph Lipari, currently an Assistant Inspector General for the New York Police Department (NYPD), was appointed by Inspector General Joe Ferguson.
In New York, Lipari led investigations into NYPD’s use-of-force reporting, Crisis Intervention Team training and dispatch procedures, and inefficiencies in tracking complaints. Prior to that, he served as the administrator of the Citizen Review Board in Syracuse, an office responsible for investigating civilian complaints, analyzing data, and making policy and training recommendations (Chicago Sun-Times).
From 2010 to 2012, Lipari was the executive director of Citizens Alert in Chicago, where he supported victims of police misconduct and worked with a citywide coalition to reform CPD’s accountability system.
FORMER JUDGES, PROSECUTORS URGE BOND REFORM
Eighty-seven prominent attorneys, including former judges and prosecutors, have signed a letter urging the Illinois Supreme Court to enact a rule requiring judges to determine whether an accused person can afford bail set in any criminal case (Injustice Watch).
Signatories include former U.S. Attorneys Dan Webb, Thomas P. Sullivan, and Scott Lasar, along with current candidates Kwame Raoul (running for attorney general) and Lori Lightfoot (running for mayor).
The current practice of setting unaffordable bonds to ensure individuals remain in custody pending trial “raises serious questions of compliance with Illinois law and the U.S. Constitution,” the attorneys wrote. Under state law, accused persons deemed too dangerous for release should be held only after a hearing and written finding by a judge.
The Chicago Community Bond Fund reported that since its founding in 2015, it has paid over $800,000 from its revolving bond fund to free 150 people from jail or home confinement. The group estimates that about 2,500 individuals remain in custody at Cook County Jail because they cannot afford bond. This is partly due to inconsistent implementation of an order by Chief Judge Timothy Evans mandating that bond be set at affordable levels. In the first three months of 2018, nearly half of those receiving monetary bond were unable to pay the ordered amount (Chicago Community Bond Fund).
Meanwhile, Cook County Judge Celia Gamrath dismissed a class-action lawsuit alleging that Cook County’s use of monetary bond is discriminatory and unconstitutional, ruling that she could not intervene in the decisions of individual judges setting bond. Attorneys said they plan to appeal. “What we are asking [the judge] to do is to ensure that these judges follow the law, and that is ultimately always a court’s role,” said Alexa Van Brunt of the MacArthur Justice Center (Chicago Tribune).
Members of the Muslim community have raised $100,000 for Believers Bail Out, a fund to free Muslims being held at Cook County Jail. “Bail out is the tactic, it’s not the endgame,” said Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, a founder of the campaign. “The endgame is to get rid of money bonds and mass incarceration” (Chicago Tribune).
GUEVARA VICTIM WINS $17 MILLION
In another lawsuit involving former Detective Reynaldo Guevara, a federal jury awarded $17 million to Jacques Rivera, who spent 21 years in prison before being exonerated and released in 2011 when a witness recanted.
The jury ordered Guevara to pay $75,000 in punitive damages. Two other detectives, Steve Gawrys and Ed Mingey, were also ordered to pay punitive damages.
The only witness in the case was a 12-year-old boy who later stated that police and prosecutors refused to listen when he told them he had identified the wrong person. During testimony in Rivera’s lawsuit, Guevara invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 200 times.
“The trial unfolded amid mushrooming allegations that the now-retired Guevara ran a widespread corruption racket for years in predominantly Hispanic West Side neighborhoods, pinning false murder cases on suspects, shaking down drug dealers for protection money and taking payments from gang members to change the outcomes of police lineups” (Chicago Tribune).
To date, 18 men have been exonerated based on charges of misconduct by Guevara. Eight federal lawsuits against the detective are currently pending.
BORROWING TO PAY LAWSUIT COSTS
Chicago far outpaces other cities and counties in using bonds to finance the costs of police misconduct lawsuits, according to the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE).
While the city does not report specifically on the cost of police misconduct lawsuits, Chicago used over $700 million in bonds to finance the costs of settlements and judgments from 2010 to 2016. A new report by ACRE estimates that this amount is roughly equivalent to what was spent on police-related lawsuits alone. Interest payments to investors could more than double the costs of the lawsuits, according to the report (Action Center on Race and the Economy).
In the past two years, the city budgeted about $50 million annually for lawsuit costs but paid an average of $153 million. Last year, Chicago used $225 million in general obligation bond financing to pay for legal settlements (Crain’s Chicago Business).
According to the report, this arrangement shields the police department and individual officers from financial accountability for misconduct while allowing the financial sector to profit from police violence.
ACRE recommends that banks seeking to do business with the city be required to provide no-fee, interest-free loans when the city needs to borrow for lawsuit costs. Additionally, it suggests that individual officers be required to obtain indemnification insurance, though this recommendation would require changes in state law and police union contracts (Chicago Reader).
ACRE also calls for far greater transparency regarding the costs of police misconduct lawsuits, including financing costs.
JUDGE COGHLAN’S RETENTION OPPOSED
The newly formed Judicial Accountability Political Action Committee will campaign against the retention of Cook County Judge Matthew Coghlan (Injustice Watch). Coghlan has been sued by Armando Serrano and Jose Montanez, who allege that he collaborated with former Detective Reynaldo Guevara to pressure an informant into falsely identifying them in a 1993 murder (Chicago Tribune).
Injustice Watch reports that Coghlan was removed from a case after he repeatedly refused to carry out appellate court rulings ordering post-conviction hearings for Antonio Nicholas, who alleged that he was tortured by detectives under Commander Jon Burge into confessing to a 1991 murder.
Additionally, Injustice Watch found that Coghlan imposes exceptionally harsh sentences on Black defendants while issuing lenient sentences when police officers are convicted of crimes.
RIALMO FOUND NOT GUILTY OF BATTERY
After arguing that he acted in self-defense during a bar fight in December, Officer Robert Rialmo was acquitted by a Cook County judge of two counts of misdemeanor battery. An investigation of the incident by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) is pending (Chicago Tribune).
Three days after his acquittal in the December incident, Rialmo was involved in another altercation at a Northwest Side bar. That incident is currently being investigated by CPD’s Internal Affairs and COPA (Chicago Tribune).
The acquittal came a week after a jury verdict finding that Rialmo was unjustified in the December 2015 fatal shooting of Quintonio LeGrier was overturned by a judge. Jury foreman Dave Fitzsimmons said he felt “hoodwinked” after Judge Rena Marie Van Tine overturned the verdict based on the jury’s answer to a special interrogatory posed by the defense, which asked whether they believed Rialmo felt threatened during the incident. Fitzsimmons stated that during deliberations, the jury quickly agreed that physical evidence demonstrated Rialmo was a significant distance from LeGrier and that the shooting was not justified (Chicago Tribune).
The Chicago Police Board is currently considering a recommendation by COPA that Rialmo be fired for using unjustified force in the incident, which resulted in the deaths of LeGrier and his neighbor, Bettie Jones.
MCCARTHY OPPOSES NEW POLICY ACADEMY
Mayoral candidate and former police superintendent Garry McCarthy called for redirecting the $95 million that Mayor Rahm Emanuel intends to spend on a new police academy to “social services and mental health centers back in communities that need them most,” adding, “Crime reduction is not just about the police.”
McCarthy argued that the new academy is “for political purposes, not functional purposes,” calling it “a shiny object that Rahm Emanuel can point to and say, ‘I’m all about police reform.’”
He stated that under his leadership, CPD “exceeded the Illinois State Training Board’s recommendations and requirements for training.” McCarthy has previously dismissed the 2016 Justice Department investigation, which found CPD training to be deficient (Chicago Sun-Times).
“The first step to making this city safe is to stop the political manipulation and micromanagement of the police department,” McCarthy said. He accused Emanuel of creating “a political environment that is emboldening criminals while hamstringing the police” (Chicago Tribune). He also called for “data-driven policing” that eliminates special squads and “relies on beat officers to do police work, not just to answer calls for service.”
McCarthy suggested that the department conduct a workload analysis of crimes and calls for service to determine whether additional officers are needed. “We may not need 1,000 [additional] officers,” he said. “I don’t know where that number comes from.”
He also proposed transferring final determinations on discipline from the police board to the superintendent and defended a union contract provision allowing officers to change their statements after reviewing video of an incident under investigation.