Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson, a wrongfully convicted man, celebrated this week. Prosecutors decided not to retry him after a Cook County judge threw out his conviction, ordered his release from prison, and ordered a new trial after he spent 29 years behind bars for a murder committed 28 years ago.
Today, Johnson is 45 and is moving on with life.
In 1996, Johnson, then 16, was wrongly convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and a home invasion on the South Side that led to the death of Eddie “Jay” Binion. No physical evidence or other witnesses ever linked Johnson to the murder.
According to an investigation conducted by The Invisible Institute and WBEZ, on April 14, 1996, four men entered Binion’s home with plans to rob him.
The men forced Binion and the apartment’s five other occupants into a back bedroom. There, they witnessed one of the masked men shoot Binion in the back of the head. The intruders fled with drugs and money.
The next day, police arrested Jimmy Slaughter, a friend of Johnson’s. Slaughter led police to Fernando Gilbert and Willie Daugherty. Coerced by police, Daugherty, in turn, pointed police to Johnson.
According to Johnson, he only knew the group of men peripherally. Johnson maintained his innocence and reiterated his compelling alibi. On the night of the shooting, Johnson went to a convenience store to pick up groceries for his grandmother. He was only gone a short time. Johnson’s father, who lived in an upstairs apartment at the residence, also remembers him leaving and returning with the groceries.
Despite Johnson’s claims of innocence, Detective James O’Brien and a crew of officers picked him up two days after the shooting. Johnson’s grandmother, Mary Robinson, had initially refused to let them in, but they insisted, rushing Johnson out of the house when she went to the bathroom.
Under pressure, Slaughter, Gilbert and Daugherty gave prosecutors statements that implicated Johnson as either the shooter or having participated in the crime. They all accepted plea deals for significantly reduced sentences.
Johnson, in 1996, was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and home invasion. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison. According to the WBEZ investigation, Johnson, for years, “wrote hundreds of letters, begging and pleading with different lawyers, organizations, just trying to get someone to take a look at my case.”
Robert Johnson is represented by Attorneys Lauren Myerscough-Mueller and Megan Richardson of The Exoneration Project.
According to the Exoneration Project, during Johnson’s trial, no physical evidence or eyewitnesses tied him to the crime. Instead, the victim’s girlfriend and sister both testified that Robert was not one of the perpetrators. Yet Robert was convicted, due largely to the misconduct of notoriously corrupt Chicago police detectives O’Brien and Moser, who had worked under infamous police commander Jon Burge.
These detectives, according to the Exoneration Project, coerced the false testimony of one of Johnson’s juvenile co-defendants, who took a plea deal for his testimony, which he has since recanted. He and another co-defendant have both alleged police abuse and have identified the actual perpetrator. Multiple other people have since come forward to say the actual perpetrator confessed to them.
In a third-stage evidentiary hearing, Johnson’s legal team presented the testimony of numerous witnesses who have come forward and whom the court found credible.
“The only evidence ever presented against Robert was the coerced, false testimony of a juvenile co-defendant,” according to Lauren Myerscough-Mueller, one of Johnson’s attorneys.
“That co-defendant has now recanted and alleged abuse to force his false statements. Given the evidence of Robert’s innocence – including the exonerating testimony of two admitted perpetrators, the victim’s sister, and the victim’s girlfriend – it is our hope that the State will not proceed with a new trial and will allow Robert to move on with his life after 29 years of wrongful incarceration.”
Johnson’s fight is not over. His attorneys must now file a legal petition and appear before a judge to obtain a certificate of innocence. Should Johnson receive one, he can file a claim for compensation for the 29 years he was imprisoned through the Illinois Court of Claims.
Johnson’s lawyer said he is also exploring possible civil suits against the city and the officers involved.
The Innocence Project reports that false confessions took place in 24 percent of approximately 289 convictions reversed because of DNA evidence.
Youth, those with mental health issues, and individuals under the influence of drugs and alcohol are especially susceptible to suggestion and, therefore, tend to be over-represented in false confession data.