Politics
Chicago Taxpayers Have Already Spent $11.2M Defending Convicted Police Sgt. Ronald Watts, With 193 Cases Pending
Chicago taxpayers have paid more than $11.2 million to defend convicted former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts in more than 70 lawsuits alleging he framed people for crimes they did not commit — with a total of 193 lawsuits yet to be resolved, according to documents obtained by WTTW News.
The Chicago City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to resolve the first of those lawsuits, agreeing to pay $500,000 to Alvin Waddy, who spent more than a year in jail on trumped up charges that he sold drugs in 2007 in the now-demolished Ida B. Wells Chicago Housing Authority complex on the South Side.
Waddy spent 394 days in prison after being convicted on the original charges he faced before being released on parole. He spent an additional 73 days in jail after the same group of officers alleged he violated the terms of his release by possessing drugs. Those charges were dropped after tests showed the substance he was accused of possessing was not an illegal drug, according to Deputy Corporation Counsel Jessica Felker.
Watts and the officers who reported to him were accused of demanding that residents and drug dealers pay them for protection. They arrested those who refused after planting drugs on them, according to court records.
In 2013, Watts was convicted of shaking down a drug courier who turned out to be an FBI informant. Watts spent nearly two years in prison.
Since 2017, 212 convictions tied to Watts have been overturned, according to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
For eight years, city officials have paid a premium to hire private attorneys to defend Watts and the officers he supervised, despite his criminal conviction and the hundreds of people he helped convict who have been exonerated.
Chicago taxpayers paid $1.6 million to fight Waddy’s lawsuit for five years, ultimately resolving it for less than a third of what the city paid to defend Watts and the officers he oversaw.
WTTW News’ analysis is the first to examine records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, that document the cost to defend Watts borne by taxpayers in federal lawsuits that began in 2016 under former Mayor Emanuel and continued through the summer of 2024 under Mayor Brandon Johnson.
WTTW News was unable to identify the more than 100 cases pending in Cook County Circuit Court in order to determine how much Chicago taxpayers have spent defending Watts and the officers he supervised in those cases.
Those records, which are maintained by the Law Department, are not readily available to the public or the City Council and are not usually included in the overall tally of how much it costs Chicago taxpayers to resolve lawsuits alleging police misconduct.
The city is required by state law and its collective bargaining agreement to cover the cost of any settlement or jury verdict in lawsuits naming police officers. In addition, the city must pay for lawyers to defend the officers.
Taxpayers have spent nearly $5.2 million to defend Watts in a single lawsuit, records show.
Convicted in 2006, Ben Baker spent 10 years in prison before he was released in 2016, three years after Watts was convicted of taking bribes. A judge granted Baker a certificate of innocence a month after he was released.
Other Settlements
Earlier this month, a federal jury ordered Chicago to pay $50 million to Marcel Brown, who was wrongfully convicted of a 2008 murder and spent 10 years in prison before being exonerated.
In 10 other cases, taxpayers have paid more than $140,000 to defend Watts from similar allegations of misconduct.
In all, the City Council agreed Wednesday to pay $15 million to settle four lawsuits claiming Chicago police officers committed a wide range of misconduct.
That includes an agreement to pay $11.6 million to Anthony Jakes, who spent 20 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of a 1991 murder based on a confession coerced by Chicago police detectives trained by Jon Burge.
An additional $2.5 million is set to be paid to a man who spent five years in jail awaiting trial after being charged with a 2008 murder. Michael Liggins was acquitted and accused two Chicago Police detectives — who remain on the force — of framing him.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
