‘We’re going to keep fighting’: Judge denies man a new trial even as prosecutors don’t oppose motion

Family members of a man who says he was wrongfully convicted of murder filled a courtroom gallery at the Leighton Criminal Court Building Monday waiting to hear if he would be coming home.

They felt they had reasons to be hopeful: Cook County prosecutors were not opposing the motion to vacate a murder conviction for Kevin Jackson, who is serving a 45-year sentence for a 2001 fatal shooting at a Southwest Side gas station. And a review of the case by special prosecutors hired to examine the evidence on behalf of the state’s attorney’s office found that the witnesses who later recanted gave “consistent and detailed” descriptions of mistreatment by detectives who have a history of allegations of coercion.

Cook County Judge Angela Petrone, though, denied the motion, finding that Jackson’s conviction was sound as sheriff’s deputies crowded into the courtroom and emotional family members walked out.

In a lengthy ruling that recapped more than two decades of the history of the case, Petrone said the court found it “troubling” that the Cook County state’s attorney’s office asked her to sign off on a motion to vacate, finding that the witnesses were “improperly assessed” by the special prosecutors’ report, which laid the foundation for the state’s decision-making.

In at least two other cases involving three defendants, Petrone has denied motions to vacate convictions even when prosecutors agreed not to oppose them, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. In each of the cases, an Illinois appeals court reversed Petrone’s decision and vacated the convictions, leading to the release of three men.

Jackson’s attorneys said they plan to appeal the ruling.

“We’re going to keep fighting, everyday,” Jackson’s sister Lakisha Jackson said after the hearing.

In a statement released by his attorneys, Jackson called on the state’s attorney’s office to “double down their efforts” to fight for justice within the legal system.

“We are disappointed and frustrated, but not broken as our fight for justice continues,” he said.

The case traces back to a shooting at a Citgo gas station at 55th Street and Damen Avenue on May 6, 2001, when 54-year-old Ernest Jenkins was killed and another person was injured.

Multiple witnesses gave statements implicating Jackson, according to court records, but later recanted at trial, describing threats and harassment by Detectives Brian Forberg and John Foster, whose work has since come under scrutiny. At least a dozen defendants have accused Forberg, who retired last year, and other detectives of misconduct, including coercing witnesses into falsely implicating people in murders and other serious felonies.

Forberg’s marriage to a former assistant state’s attorney who worked closely with the Conviction Integrity Unit, now called the Conviction Review Unit, has also raised concerns about conflicts of interest because the unit has been tasked with reviewing cases involving allegations of misconduct by Forberg. The prosecutor, Kirsten Ann Olson, died in May 2022.

This conflict, when raised to the state’s attorney’s office by defense attorneys, resulted in a second review of Jackson’s case by special prosecutors Thomas Geraghty and Robert Owen who investigated for more than 14 months, according to Jackson’s lawyers Elizabeth Bacon and Brandon Clark. The unit had previously found that there was not sufficient evidence to support Jackson’s claim of innocence.

Geraghty and Owen re-interviewed the witnesses in Jackson’s case and found that they gave accounts of coercion that were consistent with their prior statements and affidavits, according to a redacted version of the report. It noted at least nine other cases with documented allegations of witness coercion by Forberg.

According to Petrone’s ruling, Geraghty and Owen’s report found that the Conviction Integrity Unit did not “critically examine” alllegations of patterns and practices of CPD misconduct.

In her ruling, she noted that the state’s attorney’s office no longer opposes vacating the convictions nor does it intend to recharge him based on the findings of Geraghty and Owen’s report.

Petrone’s ruling, though, found Geraghty and Owen’s assessment of the civilian witnesses lacking, and she said Jackson’s appeals have not uncovered evidence that is new, or couldn’t have been discovered at the time of the trial.

Jackson’s attorneys plan to make a motion to the Appellate Court that he be released while the appeal is pending.

In a message to her brother, Lakisha Jackson told him to stay strong.

“You coming home soon. It’s just a matter of time,” Lakisha Jackson said.