Journalism professor accused of framing an innocent man for murder as part of his campaign to abolish the death penalty in Illinois

by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton | November 11, 2014 6:25 pm

This is just how far a Leftist will take an agenda for his cause. If an innocent man is offered up on the alter of Progressivism and sacrificed, well… it is for the collective good. Looks to me like Alstory Simon was that sacrificial lamb and was set up neatly by a journalism professor, his students and a private investigator. So very typical of Chicago-style politics. Frame an innocent man so you can do away with the death penalty – poignantly twisted[1].


Free: Alstory Simon confessed to a double murder in 1999, mainly because of an investigation
from a team of students at Northwestern University. He was released from
Jacksonville Correctional Facility last week.

From the Daily Mail[2]:

A renowned journalism professor has been accused of framing an innocent man for murder so he could advance his campaign to abolish the death penalty in Illinois.

Alstory Simon, 64, confessed to a double murder in 1999, mainly because of an investigation from a team of students at Northwestern University, led by Professor David Protess.

It helped free death row inmate Anthony Porter just days before his execution, a case that was cited when the state announced a moratorium on capital punishment in 2003 and its abolition in 2011.

Simon was released from the Jacksonville Correction Center last week after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office re-examined his conviction.

Now, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Simon’s attorney Terry Ekl claims the team of journalists and their professor, as part of Northwestern University’s Innocence Project, framed his client so Porter could become a ‘poster boy’ in the bid to end executions in the state.

Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez added that the ‘tactics and antics’ of the investigator, Paul Ciolino in conjunction with Protess could have added up to criminal charges or obstruction of justice and intimidation of a witness at the time.

However it would be impossible to file charges because the statute of limitations has run out.

Simon, wearing a grey hoodie and jeans when he was released from prison, told reporters outside Jacksonville Correctional Center that he was angry.

‘I’m not angry at the system. I’m angry at the people who did what they did to me,’ he said, crying as he told reporters that his mother had died while he was behind bars.

Simon was convicted and sentenced to 37 years in prison – he served 15.

But the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office began re-examining his conviction last year after his attorney presented evidence that he had been threatened with the death penalty and coerced into confessing with promises that he would get an early release and share in the profits from book and movie deals.

Alvarez said he was tricked by a private investigator who stormed into his home and showed him a videotape of a man who said he had seen Simon pull the trigger.

The man turned out to be an actor.

‘In the best interest of justice, we could reach no other conclusion but that the investigation of this case has been so deeply corroded and corrupted that we can no longer maintain the legitimacy of this conviction,’ Alvarez said.

The Porter case helped lead former Gov. George Ryan to declare a moratorium on executions in 2003, and he cleared death row by commuting the death sentences of more than 150 inmates to life in prison. Gov. Pat Quinn abolished the death penalty in 2011.

Simon lost 15 years of his life and his mother. He can’t get any of that back. They won’t even say he is innocent, just that it was all so corrupted, they decided to set him free upon review. I’d sue the hell out of the state. I’d make it my life’s work to go public and hound Leftists like that journalism professor to his grave. In my world, I would have nothing better to do and all the time I need to do it. I’d relish it. Justice delayed is truly justice denied.

Endnotes:
  1. poignantly twisted: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2829019/Journalism-professor-accused-framing-innocent-man-murder-campaign-abolish-death-penalty-Illinois.html#ixzz3Ile1Nz9d
  2. Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2829019/Journalism-professor-accused-framing-innocent-man-murder-campaign-abolish-death-penalty-Illinois.html#ixzz3Ile1Nz9d

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/democrats/journalism-professor-accused-framing-innocent-man-murder-part-campaign-abolish-death-penalty-illinois/