Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

Go to Database Search Page

Go to  Database Index Page

Victor Safforld (aka Curtis Brown)

 

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

#N/A

Years Imprisoned:

15

Year Crime:

1990

Year Convicted:

1997

Year Cleared:

2010

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:

"Victor Safforld aka Cortez Brown was wrongly convicted in May 1992 of a gang-related murder in 1990 in Chicago. There was no physical, forensic or eyewitness evidence linking him to the shooting death of Curtis Sims on June 9, 1990 and Devin Boelter on September 16, 1990, so the primary evidence was a confession he claimed was beaten out of him by three Chicago PD detectives who used their fists and a metal flashlight. Nineteen-year-old Victor Safforld signed a phony name -- Cortez Brown -- to the confession he signed to make the detectives stop. The detectives worked under Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge. Indicted under the phony name of Cortez Brown -- After his conviction of Boelter's murder in May 1992 he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. After his conviction of Sims' capital murder in September 1992 he was sentenced to death. After his conviction in Boelter's case was overturned by the Illinois Ct of Appeals based on a faulty jury instruction he was convicted after a second trial on February 24, 1997, and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 1996 the Illinois Supreme Court vacated Safforld's death sentence in Sims' case, but in 1999 he resentenced to death. In 2003 Illinois Governor George Ryan commutted the sentence of everyone on Death Row to life in prison. Safforld completed is sentence in the Boelter case in 2005, and began serving his life sentence in the Sims case. After evidence became available that Burge may have been involved in the torture of a defendant in many cases, which corroborated Brown's claims, Brown filed a motion for a new trial. On May 22, 2009 Cook County Judge Clayton Crane vacated Brown's convictions and sentences, citing the evidence against the detectives as "staggering," and "That evidence is damning." The murder charge in the death of Boelter was dismissed on September 21, 2010, and Brown was released for time served based on his agreement to plead guilty to the murder of Sims."

Conviction Caused By:

"Police misconduct by torturing a false confession out of "Cortez Brown.""

Innocence Proved By:

"On May 22, 2009 Cook County Judge Clayton Crane vacated Brown's convictions and sentences, citing the evidence against the detectives as "staggering," and "That evidence is damning." The murder charge in the death of Boelter was dismissed on September 21, 2010, and Brown was released for time served based on his agreement to plead guilty to the murder of Sims."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

19

Age When Released:

39

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Hispanic

Information Source 1:

"Burge Torture Victim Gets New Trial as Judge Voids Bogus Murder Conviction, The MacArthur Justice Center - Press Release, May 22, 2009"

Information Location 1:

http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-22-2009/0005031565&EDATE=

Information Source 2:

"17 years later, Brown's murder conviction overturned, BY Stefano Esposito (staff), Chicago Sun-Times, May 22, 2009"

Information Location 2:

"http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1587398,cortez-brown-death-penalty-052209.article"

Information Source 3:

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case:

Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

Hosted on forejustice.org and mirrored on justicedenied.org .