Ex-inmate's lawsuit says police, prosecutors framed him in girl's slaying
Rivera spent 2 decades in prison before DNA helped clear him
Former inmate Juan Rivera is hugged Tuesday by Christine Agaiby of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth at a news conference. Rivera said he filed a lawsuit so others would not have to endure what he did. “It’s not just about me,” he said. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune)
October 30, 2012 - By Steve Mills, Chicago TribuneThe federal lawsuit comes in the case of Juan Rivera, who spent two decades in prison for the murder of Holly Staker, one of four violent felonies in which Lake County prosecutors insisted on a suspect's guilt even after forensic evidence indicated his innocence. The cases put prosecutors on the defensive for their reluctance to acknowledge the meaning of DNA, and all four prosecutions collapsed between August 2010 and May 2012.
"Juan Rivera lost 20 years of his life," said Locke Bowman, legal director of the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University's law school and one of Rivera's lawyers. "This was not an accident. ... He was incredibly vulnerable, and the police took advantage of him."
At the heart of Rivera's lawsuit is the allegation that police coerced him into falsely confessing. They allegedly interrogated him repeatedly over four days during which Rivera had little sleep, and they allegedly took advantage of his low IQ, his difficulty with English and a psychological breakdown he suffered while in custody.
Police allegedly fed him details of the crime, according to the lawsuit, even though they knew that when it occurred, Rivera was on electronic monitoring for an unrelated crime and could not have murdered Staker.
James Sotos, an attorney for the state's attorney's and sheriff's offices, called the allegations "offensive and untrue." He said police and prosecutors acted "appropriately and with integrity" and made a good-faith effort to solve the crime. Sotos expressed confidence they would be vindicated.
"The evidence in the case clearly provided probable cause and a good-faith basis for the arrest of Mr. Rivera," Sotos said. "And three separate juries of 12 heard all the evidence in the criminal case, which included Mr. Rivera's own confession, and unanimously found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
In 1992, Rivera was in jail for burglary when police began to focus on him as a suspect in the death of Staker, killed as she baby-sat two children in Waukegan. After police got his signature on a written confession, Rivera was convicted three times, the last time in 2009, in spite of DNA evidence that did not match his genetic profile and suggested that someone else had stabbed and raped Staker.
Prosecutors explained the DNA by saying Staker, though she was only 11, must have had consensual sex with someone else; they said Rivera's confession showed he killed the girl.
In December 2011, the Illinois Appellate Court threw out Rivera's conviction and barred prosecutors from trying him again, citing the DNA and questionable tactics used in the interrogation. Rivera went free the next month after prosecutors decided not to challenge the ruling.
At a news conference, Rivera said he is trying to get his life back and filed a lawsuit so others would not have to endure what he did.
"It's not just about me," he said.
The lawsuit names more than a dozen officers, State's Attorney Mike Waller and four top assistants, and several municipalities whose officers worked on the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force as it investigated Staker's murder. It also names John E. Reid & Associates, a Chicago firm that pioneered interrogation techniques. Investigators interrogated Rivera at the company's offices and, according to the lawsuit, at least one company official took part in the questioning.