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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
Death and Lynched |
Years Imprisoned: |
21 |
Year Crime: |
1988 |
Year Convicted: |
1990 |
Year Cleared: |
2009 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Illinois |
County or Region of Crime: |
Cook |
City of Crime: |
Chicago |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Ronald Kitchen was co-defendant of Marvin Reeves. Both men were wrongly convicted in 1991 of the 1988 murders of two women and three young children. The prosecution's case was based on Ronald Kitchen's confession to the five murders after 39 hours of interrogation, and the testimony of jailhouse informant Willie Williams, who claimed that Kitchen confessed to him in two telephone calls. The informant also claimed that Marvin Reeves made incriminating statements to him. Kitchen testified that he only confessed to stop being beaten by Chicago Police Department detectives who were questioning him. The detectives were under the command of Cmdr. Jon Burge, and Kitchen said he was hit in the head with a telephone, punched in the face, struck in the groin and kicked. Kitchen was sentenced to death, but it was commuted to life in prison by IL Gov. George Ryan in 2003. Reeves was given five life sentences without parole. Attorneys for Kitchen and Reeves eventually discovered that phone records showed Williams didn't talk to Kitchen on the two dates he claimed, and that prosecutors never revealed to defense attorneys they had Williams released from prison early in return for his cooperation. Evidence also surfaced that Cmdr. Burge had been involved in the torture of numerous defendants who falsely confessed. Based on the new evidence Kitchen and Reeves filed motions for a new trial. Based on the new evidence Kitchen and Reeves filed motions for a new trial. On the morning of July 7, 2009 Cook County Circuit Judge Stanley Sacks overturned their convictions, and later that day the Illinois Attorney General dismissed their indictiments on the grounds of insufficient evidence. On the afternoon of the 7th Kitchen and Reeves were released from custody after being wrongly imprisoned for 21 years. Kitchen filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Chicago that was settled in September 2013 for $6.15 million. Kitchen was awarded wrongful imprisonment compensation of $199,000 by the State of Illinois." |
Conviction Caused By: |
"False confession extracted under torture from Ronald Kitchen, and perjury by a jailhouse informant that Marvin Reeves made incriminating statements to him." |
Innocence Proved By: |
"Released on July 7, 2009 after the prosecution dismissed the indictment against Kitchen and Reeves." |
Defendant Aided By: |
Northwestern Law's Center on Wrongful Convictions |
Compensation Awarded: |
"$6,349,000 total. $6.15 mil. (City of Chicago, Sept. 2013) and $199,000 (State of Illinois, 2011)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
22 |
Age When Released: |
43 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Burge-linked cases - 2 men freed for five 1988 murders as prosecutors find insufficient evidence for retrial, By Matthew Walberg, The Chicago Tribune, July 8, 2009" |
Information Location 1: |
"http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-burge-cases-droppedjul08,0,5665219.story" |
Information Source 2: |
"Charges dropped in 20-year-old murder case, By Rummana Hussain (Criminal Courts Reporter), Chicago Sun-Times, July 7, 2009" |
Information Location 2: |
"http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1654837,kitchen-reeves-charges-dropped-070709.article#" |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org