More than a year into her second term, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is denying more certificates of innocence to wrongfully convicted individuals than her predecessor Kim Foxx, according to an investigative report by Injustice Watch and Bolts, a non-profit that covers criminal justice and voting rights.
The report renews concerns among Black leaders who opposed Burke’s campaign for office because of her past as an assistant state’s attorney where she prosecuted a 10-year-old boy before his conviction was overturned by a federal judge. The late Reverend Jesse Jackson was among several Black leaders who spoke out against voting for Burke.
The latest report is part of a three-part series Denying Innocence that examines the injustice of wrongfully convicted men in Cook County, where man Black men are found guilty of crimes they did not commit. To them, obtaining a certificate of innocence is a long overdue apology that helps heal the pain and scars of being convicted for a crime they did not commit.
But prosecutors have argued that a defendant getting a conviction thrown out doesn’t necessarily mean that person is innocent.
After fighting for years to have their convictions overturned, individuals must file a petition for a certificate of innocence to have their crime removed from their records. They also must file an application for compensation with the Illinois Court of Claims.
To assess how many certificates of innocence were being granted so far in Burke’s first term, Injustice Watch and Bolts examined 211 cases of exonerated individuals in the National Registry of Exonerations. Among those individuals is Roosevelt Myles, whose story the Crusader followed for seven years before he received his certificate of innocence in 2024.
According to the report, during Foxx’s term in office, 1 out of every 4 certificates of innocence were denied, while Burke’s office has objected to 4 out of 5.
The report said more than half of the exonerees were framed by convicted police Sgt. Ronald Watts, who planted drugs on people at the Ida B. Wells housing projects.
The report said most of Watts exonerated victims had their convictions expunged and received their certificates of innocence with little objection from Foxx. The report said Foxx’s office objected to only 14 certificates of innocence — or 25 percent — sought by people exonerated during her second four-year term.
However, the report said Burke, has objected to 23 certificates of innocence — or 82 percent — during her freshman term in office. According to the report, while a few people got certificates without resistance early in her term, “Burke has objected to every pending case in which prosecutors have stated a position.”
It normally takes between six months to a year for exonerees to get their certificate of innocence in court. Roosevelt Myles spent 28 years in jail before his murder conviction was overturned in 2022. He filed for his certificate of innocence in 2023, but Foxx office asked the court to deny it. In 2024, a year after he filed, Myles was granted a certificate of innocence by Judge Carol Howard.
The report said three months into her term, Burke publicly stated the certificates should go to people with “ironclad evidence” of their innocence, such as DNA.
According to the report, money plays an important role in the dispute over certificates of innocence. The city spent over $175 million in lawsuit settlements this year. Prosecutors object to certificates of innocence because they hurt the city in winning civil lawsuits, the report said.
The report cited a complaint by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who during a mayoral campaign forum in 2023 said that Foxx was “handing out certificates of innocence like they’re candy.”