John Willis

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Charge:	Sexual Assault and Robbery
Sentence:	100 years
Years Imprisoned:	8.42
Year Crime:	1990
Year Convicted:	1993
Year Cleared:	1999
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Illinois
County or Region of Crime:	Cook
City of Crime:	Chicago
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"John Willis was wrongly convicted of a series of rapes after the Chicago Crime Lab and the Cook County Prosecutors office concealed for many years that test results showed Willis' blood type was different than that of the attacker. Handwritten notes of a Chicago's police crime laboratory analyst who conducted blood tests on semen recovered from a rape victim that excluded Willis as the source, were concealed from Willis' lawyers prior to his trial. Pardoned by IL Gov George Ryan in 1999. Filed lawsuits against the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois. In March 2004, Cook County and Chicago both settled for $1.5 million, for a total settlement of $3 million. He settled for $100,000 from the State of Illinois. Willis also was awarded $125,035.97 from the Illinois Court of Claims."
Conviction Caused By:	Police and Prosecutorial Misconduct by concealing exculpatory tests showed the attacker had a different blood type than Wills
Innocence Proved By:	Blood Test and DNA
Defendant Aided By:	Innocence Project NY
Compensation Awarded:	"$3 million total. $1.5 million (Cook County, March 2004) and $1.5 million (City of Chicago, March 2004)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	42
Age When Released:	50
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"Ex-Inmate Exonerated of Rapes Tries To Get His Life In Order, Maurice Possley (staff writer), Chicago Tribune, June 29, 2000, p. 4"
Information Location 1:	http://www.law-forensic.com/cfr_fish_13.htm
Information Source 2:	Innocence Project database
Information Location 2:	http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=58
Information Source 3:	"City Pays $1.5 mil for Wrongful Conviction; County adds $1.5 mil More, by Chinta Strausberg (staff), Chicago Defender, March 9, 2004, p. 3"
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John Willis

Charge:

Sexual Assault and Robbery

Sentence:

100 years

Years Imprisoned:

8.42

Year Crime:

1990

Year Convicted:

1993

Year Cleared:

1999

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Illinois

County or Region of Crime:

Cook

City of Crime:

Chicago

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Police and Prosecutorial Misconduct by concealing exculpatory tests showed the attacker had a different blood type than Wills

Innocence Proved By:

Blood Test and DNA

Defendant Aided By:

Innocence Project NY

Compensation Awarded:

"$3 million total. $1.5 million (Cook County, March 2004) and $1.5 million (City of Chicago, March 2004)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

42

Age When Released:

50

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Ex-Inmate Exonerated of Rapes Tries To Get His Life In Order, Maurice Possley (staff writer), Chicago Tribune, June 29, 2000, p. 4"

Information Location 1:

http://www.law-forensic.com/cfr_fish_13.htm

Information Source 2:

Innocence Project database

Information Location 2:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=58

Information Source 3:

"City Pays $1.5 mil for Wrongful Conviction; County adds $1.5 mil More, by Chinta Strausberg (staff), Chicago Defender, March 9, 2004, p. 3"

Information Location 3:

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