Federal prosecutors appear to throw wrench in defense attempt to secure CPD documents related to 2011 slaying of off-duty officer
Federal prosecutors have weighed in on a tussle over the release of documents related to the 2011 killing of an off-duty Chicago police officer, complicating the already messy and decadelong court cases for three men originally charged in the slaying.
Officer Clifton Lewis was killed while working a second job as a security guard at a West Side convenience store. Lewis was shot by two masked men while he worked at the M&M Quick Foods in the 1200 block of North Austin Boulevard in December 2011.
Cook County prosecutors charged Tyrone Clay, Alexander Villa and Edgardo Colon, accusing Clay and Villa of shooting Lewis with Colon as their getaway driver. But in the years since, the case has remained unresolved, dogged by accusations of misconduct by Chicago police officers.
Cook County Judge Erica Reddick last month ordered the Chicago Police Department to release all materials that could be related to Lewis’ killing, after defense attorneys accused the department of failing to turn over all relevant evidence.
In the latest wrinkle, an attorney for the city of Chicago filed a motion that said the department cannot hand over some of the documents because they are related to a federal investigation. The motion included a letter sent to the city last week signed by Northern District U.S. Attorney John Lausch, which said: “Any documents that CPD officers obtained in that role (and that remain in CPD custody) are presumably covered by federal grand jury secrecy rules, and their unauthorized disclosure is prohibited by federal law, which can be punished by the federal court as contempt.”
Christine Hake, deputy corporation counsel for the city, appeared before Reddick on Wednesday and said she could be held in contempt in federal court for complying with Reddick’s order on turning over documents.
Lausch’s letter noted that the parties have the option of petitioning a federal judge for the release of the material.
Attorneys for Clay and Colon, whose cases are before Reddick, argued that not all of the documents they are seeking are related to the federal investigation.
Reddick told the parties to appeal together to the U.S. District Court for the documents that could be subject to federal restrictions, and she ordered the city to turn over all other materials that are not related to the federal investigation.
“Considering the length of time and what is at stake, I strongly advise you all to work cooperatively,” she said.
Villa’s case is before Cook County Judge James Linn, who heard the same arguments and came down differently, telling attorneys, “I cannot order the federal government to do anything at all.” He granted the city’s request that the defense’s subpoena be quashed.
The federal investigation in question, called Operation Snake Doctor, targeted the Spanish Cobras street gang and was done jointly with the Chicago Police Department. It became intertwined with the Lewis investigation.
Defense attorneys have said in previous filings that among the materials they sought is a directive from CPD that mandated that the Area 5 gang unit work exclusively on the Lewis slaying until told otherwise, as well as a formal plan to target the Spanish Cobras street gang in an “all out effort” to generate witnesses and sources of information. Operation Snake Doctor resulted in at least 122 arrests and “a lot of informants,” including one who implicated different people in Lewis’ murder.
Clay has spent more than a decade in jail without going to trial, while Colon awaits a new trial after his conviction was overturned. Villa is the only defendant who has been convicted, but he has not been sentenced and is seeking a new trial.
