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Anthony Gay seeks new trial to overturn “trumped up gun charges”

Photo caption: Anthony Gay

Anthony Gay, initially convicted of robbing a teenager of $1 and stealing his hat, who spent 23 years in solitary confinement in numerous prisons, is again fighting for his freedom in another case involving Rock Island police, who he says framed him on a 2020 “trumped-up” gun charge.

In hiring a video expert, Gay says an enhanced picture of the Rock Island officer’s cam recorder proves there was no gun or ammunition present at the time of his arrest in 2020. He said the gun and ammunition allegedly appeared after he was arrested.

In a telephone interview from the Livingston County Jail in Pontiac, Illinois, Gay told the Chicago Crusader the Rock Island police claimed when they arrested him they confiscated the gun and ammunition. As a felon, that was a violation.

However, based on the enhanced police body cam imagery, Gay is seeking a new trial and alleges police filed “trumped-up charges” against him in retaliation for his beating a previous federal case pro se and reporting them to the mayor of Rock Island.

“The police framed me. I reported it to the mayor (of Rock Island), but he swept it under the rug. I got a hung jury on my first trial, but they ambushed me on my second trial,” said Gay.

He was convicted May 19, 2022, by an all-white jury. “I ended up back in North Carolina where I was basically tortured in solitary for five months.

“I’m back now in Livingston County Jail,” Gay said.

In hiring a video expert, Gay says this video footage proves he is innocent. “My videographer enhanced the video and said where the area that the police pursued me I did not have a firearm at the time they arrested me. The firearm appeared later,” Gay said.

“I am going to file a motion for a new trial based on new discovery evidence,” Gay said. “This gives me a sense of justice to stand up and fight for myself.”

Gay said his nightmare began when he was arrested for fighting with the teenager back in 1994, who claimed he stole his hat and $1. Gay was released from jail four days later, but he was arrested again for driving without a license.

Gay said the prosecutor told him to plead guilty to the robbery charges involving the fight because they assured him it was a lesser offense. Gay now knows that was not true.

“In the court transcript, he (the teenager) basically says he lost his hat and $1, but the system doesn’t care about that. All they want to do is to secure a conviction. They don’t care if it is wrongful, justified or not. They are trying to get a conviction,” Gay said.

Gay first went to prison in 1994 for a probation violation, for seven years.

“I ended up in solitary, and they gave me 100 years for my suffering with mental illness. I was punished for suffering from mental illness.”

During that time, Gay self-mutilated and was hospitalized several times. He said he did this just to be around humans and not in solitary confinement.

Acting pro se, on his own behalf, representing himself, Gay said the feds were allegedly embarrassed by his beating them in court with a hung jury, but they filed an appeal right away. However, in the interim, Gay was arrested by Rock Island police on the “trumped-up gun and ammunition charge” out of retaliation because he reported them to the mayor of Rock Island.

He said the Rock Island police turned the case over to the feds who took over their case, and he was convicted on May 19, 2022.

“They did this out of retaliation, but I see this as an opportunity to show people if you stand up for yourself against the government, you can win because they have been running people of color through the system like sick cattle for years. They use super over-qualified attorneys who can run circles around people.

“For me, this is a classic David vs. Goliath fight, but my whole purpose is to throw people a rope of hope to show them that the federal government and their trumped-up charges can be defeated. People just have to have the courage to stand up,” he told the Chicago Crusader.

Gay says he is “struggling” at the Livingston Jail because he doesn’t get mental health treatment, but at least he is not in solitary confinement.

Gay wants Representative Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) to introduce a bill that renders the solitary confinement to 15 days or less. “I want solitary confinement to be addressed because it is torture, and the people are suffering.

“I have an obligation to help alleviate the peoples’ suffering,” he said. He wants Jackson to have a video interview with him from Livingston County jail to detail his proposed solitary legislation.

In Illinois, Gay has a bill, HB 3564, sponsored by Representative LaShawn Ford (D-8), restricting solitary confinement to 10 days that has passed the House. It remains in the Senate, spearheaded by Senator Robert Peters (D-13); however, Gay wants a federal bill passed so restricting solitary confinement would be a national law.

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