By Dan Hinkel, Tribune reporter
For the third time in recent years, Waukegan police are being sued over a criminal investigation called into question by DNA testing.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Chicago federal court, convicted murderer James Edwards alleges that officers coerced him into confessing that he killed Waukegan appliance store owner Fred Reckling in 1994.
Edwards' suit alleges that the officers beat and intimidated him over the course of 26 hours until he signed a statement, typed by police, admitting he bludgeoned Reckling to death, robbed him and stole his car.
Though blood found in Reckling's car and business didn't match Edwards', prosecutors told jurors at his 1996 murder trial that the evidence didn't clear him, arguing that the blood likely came from an employee injured on the job. Edwards was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
But recent DNA tests showed that the blood belongs to a man who Edwards' criminal defense lawyer says could be the real killer, a man described in court records as a former Evanston resident arrested on armed robbery charges within weeks of the murder.
Read More
Latest Tyranny/Police State
- The killing of Awlaki's 16-year-old son
- TSA Begins Random Road Inspections in Tennessee
- Atlanta woman wrongly imprisoned for 53 days because of name mix-up
- Video: Man beaten as East St. Louis police watch
- Gaddafi begged for his life before being summarily executed
- Courts Rule US Government Above the Law
- Cops on the Hook for Pointing Guns at Kids
- DEA Hits More CA Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Shouldn't he also be suing everyone on the jury? Until justice is served to people who do this shit such as in the movie Law Abiding Citizen then the shit like this will continue. Just sayin.
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for the purposes of news reporting, education, research, comment, and criticism, which constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (found at the U.S. Copyright Office) and other applicable intellectual property laws. It is our policy to remove material from public view that we believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our members or users.
About Us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened..." - Winston Churchill
