On August 1, 2017, a court order was filed in the Dashonn Maggette case. The order was stamped with Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown’s stamp.
Something seemed fishy.
The document says all parties were present, but a Crusader investigation found no transcripts or evidence that show the wrongfully convicted man or his public defender were present when Judge Lawrence Flood ordered a ban on releasing a key document that can clear Maggette’s name.
Today, the judge’s order is at the center of a legal battle between prosecutors and the Chicago Crusader, which filed a motion to have Judge Nicholas Kantas unseal a document that his predecessor, Judge Flood, sealed without any explanation. Flood mysteriously retired from the bench in 2023 after the Crusader began reporting on the case.
As Maggette remains in Cook County jail for a seventh year, a ballistics report that reportedly rules out he had a gun during a scuffle with Chicago police officers Patrick Forbes and Michael Hudson remains sealed from the Crusader and other media.
The ballistics test report was conducted by the Illinois State Police months after Maggette was arrested and thrown in jail after being charged with 40 felony offenses, the most of which were attempted murder of a police officer.
After Judge Flood rushed a trial where there was just one Black juror and proceedings that favored prosecutors, Maggette on June 30 was convicted of being an armed habitual criminal and of aggravated battery of a police officer. A partial mistrial was declared after jurors failed to convict Maggette of attempted murder and other felony charges that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life.
Following the trial, Judge Flood retired after 22 years on the bench. Maggette has yet to be sentenced for his convictions. His public defender, Karin Talwar, has filed a motion for a mistrial, arguing numerous violations, including the judge allowing hearsay testimony to be accepted as evidence despite her objections.
Next week Judge Kantas on April 8 will hear arguments on the Crusader’s petition to unseal the ballistics test report as prosecutor Michelle Spizzirri moves forward to retry Maggette, as the key document remains sealed.
A closer look at the court order that sealed the ballistics report from the media uncovered more questions than answers. It fuels concerns that Judge Flood, behind closed doors, carried out a hidden agenda to protect two police officers who are believed to have framed an innocent man.
With a vague court order that included no date, a redacted signature and a hearing where there is no evidence of any witnesses, concern exists that Judge Flood orchestrated a cover up, abusing his power to seal a basic document that under most circumstances is available to the media and public in a criminal case.
Seeking to obtain the transcripts on the day the court order was filed, on August 1, 2017, the Crusader visited the fourth and fifth floors of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
The docket to Maggette’s file lists every hearing that has been held since he was arrested on June 3, 2017. But there’s no hearing listed for August 1, 2017, even though the document was stamped and filed on that date.
On the fourth floor, a court reporter who handles the case said there are no transcripts dated August 1, 2017, and that she wasn’t called or made aware of any hearing that day. And because there was no exact date of the hearing other than the date it was filed, there was no way of tracing or finding the transcripts, the Crusader was told.
Other transcripts of previous hearings before August 1, 2017, did not reveal Judge Flood signing the order before prosecutors and Maggette.
In his motion to unseal the document, Crusader Attorney Charles Snowden said “apparently there was no hearing of any kind on the record sealing documents in this case.”
The court order begins with, “This cause coming to be heard before Honorable Judge Lawrence Flood, all parties being present, the court fully advised that the City of Chicago and its entities shall not release any materials related to the above-captioned case (IPRA Log #1085453 / U17-12) under the Transparency Policy or Freedom of Information Act during the pendency of the criminal matter.”
But during a phone interview from Cook County jail, Maggette said he was never present that day to watch Judge Flood issue the order. Maggette said he grew angry when he read the order again and found that it said all parties were present.
“That’s a lie. I wasn’t there,” Maggette told the Crusader.
The court order raised other questions. In his motion to unseal the document, Snowden cited Illinois laws that state, “if an order sealing documents is entered, the reasons must be stated in open court.”
On the court order, Judge Flood doesn’t list any reasons for sealing the ballistics test report. The court order simply includes two sentences that orders officials to not release the document.
Though it was Judge Flood’s court order to seal the document, the signature at the bottom of the document is redacted, or blacked out.
Attorneys told the Crusader that withholding key documents that suggest a defendant did not commit a crime and might clear his name constitutes a Brady violation. A Brady violation also includes hiding evidence of police misconduct.
