“Are those who are accountable really going to be held to that responsibility of putting me into prison?” asked Jimmy Soto, who is believed to have served the longest wrongful conviction sentence in Illinois history. “I don’t know. But I hope people understand this is just one step towards trying to get justice for me.”
Exoneration Project
Fair’s Fight: Former Marine Still Proclaims Innocence, Despite Legal Setbacks and 25 Years in Prison
In the last 20 years, Illinois has released a spate of inmates who were wrongfully convicted, some after it was determined they were tortured into giving confessions. In fact, the state was faced with so many claims of torture that it created the Torture Relief and Inquiry Commission in 2009.
In December, Jimmy Soto saw the sunrise over Lake Michigan for the first time in 42 years. He is now discovering a completely different world from the one he left.
Darien Harris had served more than 12 years of his 76-year sentence before prosecutors decided not to move forward with their case and dropped the charges against him on Tuesday.
In all, 80 men and women, who were sentenced to 256 total years in prison across more than 100 cases tied to ex-CPD Sgt. Ronald Watts, have had their convictions dismissed over the past three years.
Nearly 100 felony drug convictions tied to disgraced former Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts have been tossed out since 2017.
Thomas Sierra, 41, spent more than half his life in prison, convicted of a murder he has claimed from the beginning he didn’t commit. On Tuesday, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped the charges. “It’s a bittersweet situation,” Sierra said.
“It’s a brand new beginning for me,” said Leonard Gipson, one of 15 men who had drug convictions vacated by a judge Thursday. The convictions stemmed from arrests made more than a decade ago by disgraced former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts.
More than a dozen residents of the former Ida B. Wells housing project say they were framed and intimidated by a former Chicago Police Department sergeant. Now they are seeking to have their convictions overturned.
