Cook County State’s Attorney candidate Clayton Harris III
Black leaders in Cook County are stepping up support for Cook County State’s Attorney candidate Clayton Harris III in the wake of news reports alleging his opponent, former Illinois Appellate Judge Eileen O’Neill Burke, prosecuted a 10-year-old Black boy. His wrongful conviction was thrown out by a federal judge because of a forced confession.
Burke on January 2, on WVON’s Perri Small Show, went on the defense and suggested she didn’t know the boy’s confession was coerced when she prosecuted the case. She also claimed she didn’t know the police officer in the case, Detective James Cassidy, had a history of exacting coerced confessions from innocent people.
The news reports from WBEZ and the Chicago Tribune have raised concerns and doubts about Burke’s credibility as a candidate seeking to replace incumbent Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who is not running for reelection. The reports also raised questions about Burke’s ability to reform Cook County’s criminal justice system which Foxx aimed to restore during her eight years in office.
At a press conference Monday at the historic Quinn Chapel Church in Bronzeville, Harris and a handful of Black leaders attacked Burke and her handling of the case. They presented a letter signed by 26 Black officials, including aldermen from the Chicago City Council and the Cook County Board of Commissioners.
“The revelations about Eileen Burke’s role in wrongfully convicting an 11-year-old Black child were heartbreaking to read,” said Harris.
“I have an 11-year-old son, and a 9-year-old son. I thought of them as I read about this child being coerced into confessing to a crime he did not commit. And as my opponent stood up and referred to him as being part of a ‘whole new breed’,” said Harris at the press conference.
“That wasn’t justice. But just as importantly, it didn’t make anyone safer. It didn’t bring justice to the family of the victim, Ms. Anna Gilvis. The true killer was never caught, and the case has gone cold. That’s not safety, or justice. It’s not the sort of leadership we need to move us forward in 2024.”
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who handpicked Harris to run for State’s Attorney said, “History teaches that wrongful convictions do not happen by accident. They are the result of systemic racial prejudice, illegal tactics and abuse of power that reflect what the system was and could still be, if we do not take action. If we do not continue to fight for a system grounded in justice and fairness. If we do not turn out to vote for Clayton Harris for Cook County State’s Attorney.”
According to news reports, in 1994, Burke, then a Cook County prosecutor, helped convict a boy of first-degree murder. Known only as “A.M.,” the boy was accused of killing Anna Gilvis, 83 on October 5, 1993.
Court records said her body was found in the bathroom of her Marquette Park home. She was beaten with a cane, her throat was slit and she was tied up with a phone cord. A gold watch and diamond ring were missing.
One of the boy’s attorneys said there was a trail of blood that suggested Gilvis had been dragged from the kitchen to the bathroom. Detectives were unable to match a bloody palm print and a bloody shoe print to A.M., and none of his fingerprints were found at the crime scene, according to news reports.
News reports at the time said A.M. was 5 feet 1 inch and 88 pounds.
But CPD Detective James Cassidy said the boy confessed to him. An appellate court said Cassidy kept challenging the boy’s initial statements and accused him of lying. That court said Cassidy used “a technique which could easily lead a young boy to ‘confess’ to anything. During questioning, there was no friendly adult in the room and when a youth officer was brought in, there was no evidence to show that he did anything to protect the boy’s rights.”
According to the Sun Times, during opening arguments Burke described how the boy confessed to detectives: “[He] suddenly told police what really happened. He told officers he killed her because he hated her.”
A.M. in 1994 was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to five years probation. He was 11 years old at the time.
His attorneys appealed the conviction to an Illinois appellate court and the Illinois Supreme Court and lost, before U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in 2002 ruled his arrest was illegal and his confession was coerced. Pallmeyer said the boy was never free to leave the police station where cops questioned him and that his parents or a police youth officer should have been present during the interrogation.
Detective Cassidy at the time gained attention for trying two Black boys, ages 7 and 8, in the 1998 sexual assault and killing of an 11-year-old girl, Ryan Harris. A lab report said semen was found on Harris’ clothing, but critics said semen was something preadolescent boys could not have produced.
The boys’ charges reportedly were tossed out before DNA evidence led to a murder conviction of a 36-year-old man.
According to the Sun Times, Burke in a 1999 Nation magazine article said “Officer Cassidy is the nicest, slightest man. That’s why they have him interview kids.”
During the interview with radio host Perri Small, Burke defended her candidacy for Cook County State’s Attorney. But she raised more questions when she called “A.M.” a “witness” who saw a man enter and leave Gilvis’ apartment. Burke said the man was extradited and questioned, but he had an alibi, and he had no connection to the victim.
“So, they went to the kid and said if you made it (story) up, tell us you made it up. He was not there as a suspect. He was there as a witness and then he blurted out I killed her. Then he gave this whole statement.
“So, the kid came to juvenile court. He never alleged the statement was coerced. He made this statement to the police. His attorney never filed a motion to scrap the statement.
“There was never an allegation that that statement was coerced,” Burke told WVON.
“If I had I known that the officer (Det. Cassidy) had a history of juvenile statements that were later found to be coerced, but at that time, we had no allegations of that. And we had no allegations coming from the kid that that statement was coerced. His attorney didn’t state the statement was coerced. None of that came up until eight years later.”The mention of your trip to Switzerland added an interesting touch to your story! Best of luck as you pursue a career in finance.
