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Posted on 08.22.06 by dancurry @ 8:15 am
Tribune columnist Eric Zorn, who I have described as the unofficial “gatekeeper” of wrongful prosecution stories, came out this morning in favor of a full evidentiary hearing for Alstory Simon (right), the man who replaced Anthony Porter (left) in prison. Zorn had supported a hearing in his blog but his call for a hearing in his more well-read column represents a thaw in the media-freeze on the biggest story you’ve never read about — the very real possibility that the Porter exoneration and all its national attention was a fraud. I have written extensively on this case here. Zorn is a gatekeeper of sorts because once he decides to write about a wrongful prosecution case the rest of the media often gets interested. We’ll see what happens here — Cook County Judge Evelyn Clay is scheduled to rule next week on whether Simon deserves a new hearing. I don’t often agree with Zorn’s portrayal of wrongful prosecution cases I’ve been involved with, and I note today he omits many compelling new developments in the Simon case in framing today’s column. Yet I give him great credit for several concessions that you won’t hear from many journalists. First, he concedes the story makes him uncomfortable because it conflicts with what he’s previously written.
Second, he notices it’s important not to abandon reason and principle just because he doesn’t like the storyline.
Zorn’s begrudging call for a new hearing in this case ought to be a clarion call to the rest of the media to quit ignoring the blockbuster of the year.
Technorati Tags: Alstory Simon, Anthony Porter, Illinois, murder, mystery |
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Posted on 07.20.06 by dancurry @ 10:02 am
The Chicago Sun-Times does have reporters to spare when it puts its mind to it — today eight of them covered the long-awaited Burge torture report. As we’ve stated several times here, the Sun-Times has had zero reporters to spare to cover a potentially larger story — the possible fraudulent exoneration of Anthony Porter, the man whose case launched the Illinois death penalty moratorium. Across the newsrooms in Chicago, where they absolutely love a story where a cop or prosecutor may have crossed the line, there is much sadness because the report falls far short of some of the previous hype those same reporters helped fuel.
Technorati Tags: Alstory Simon, Anthony Porter, Chicago media, Illinois, murder, mystery |
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Posted on 06.28.06 by dancurry @ 11:35 pm
There is an important hearing this morning (Thursday) at 26th and Cal where lawyers for Alstory Simon (above right) will try to convince a Cook County judge that an evidentiary hearing is warranted because of all the new evidence in the case. I have written extensively about Porter/Simon in this thread on my blog. Tribune columnist Eric Zorn, who serves as the unofficial media “gatekeeper” of all potential wrongful prosecution cases, says he favors a new hearing for Simon. But he’s saying that on his interesting blog and not in one of his more widely read newspaper columns. In those, he has raised loud skepticism of the motives of Simon’s attorneys and not weighed in on the facts of the case. The Sun-Times, as I noted earlier, has not written a single word about the matter. I have no idea if the paper will send a reporter to this morning’s hearing. Back to Tribune. It will be interesting to watch how the Trib staffs this story as it unfolds. To its credit, so far, the Tribune has not blown off the story like the Sun-Times. However, it has hardly scratched the surface of the saga and has assigned only one reporter to it, as far as I can tell. With other “wrongful prosecution” cases it is interested in, the Trib routinely assigns a team of reporters for months to look at records and interview witnesses. In covering two largely forgotten Texas executions, the Tribune clearly is aiming to “score” the first documented case of a person who was executed for a crime he did not commit. I read the two Texas cases the Tribune wrote about in recent weeks and I think the paper fell short. Yes, doubts were raised. Yet, there was no smoking gun in either case that proved the innocence of the men executed. And I always apply the 25 percent rule to Tribune wrongful execution stories. That is, I assume that the case for innocence is inflated at least 25 percent because it makes it a better story.
Technorati Tags: Alstory Simon, Anthony Porter, Chicago media, exoneration, Illinois, murder, mystery |
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Posted on 05.12.06 by dancurry @ 9:28 am
The Sun-Times thought the exoneration of Anthony Porter in 1999 was a big, big story. It published more than 100 stories, including a 3,861-word epic that won several awards.
Well, today, Alstory Simon has replaced Porter in prison and the Sun-Times empathy toward a potentially wrongfully convicted man seems to have dried up. Credible evidence has come forward that the Simon may be innocent and that the Porter exoneration story may have been a fraud. Suddenly, the Sun-Times has lost interest in the saga. This week the absurd freeze-out continued. Attorneys for Simon brought forward two new witnesses to the crime, including one who has sworn in an affidavit that he saw Porter do the shooting of Marilyn Green and Jerry Hillard in 1982. That follows revelations that all witnesses against Simon have recanted and that a minister has come forward and verified that Simon told him in 1999 that his “confession” was coerced. The new witness accounts were filed in Cook County Circuit Court, where Simon is seeking a new hearing. The attorneys staged a news conference afterwards and other news media covered the story, including the Tribune, and ABC-7 Chicago.
If any newspaper ought to be interested in the story, it’s the Sun-Times. The murder occurred on the city’s southeast side, the heart of the Sun-Times’ circulation base. When information came forward that Anthony Porter may be innocent in 1999, the Sun-Times didn’t hesitate to tell the story. Within a couple of weeks of news that Porter might be innocent, here is a line at the end of the Sun-Times’ award-winning story that describes the effort.
Now, information is coming forward that Alstory Simon may be innocent and the Sun-Times won’t even send a reporter to write a brief. The only rational explanation for the silence is that the Sun-Times believes the new twist in the Anthony Porter storyline makes its 1999 stories on the exoneration look more like cheerleading than real journalism. And the editors are doing their best to make sure that Alstory Simon goes away quietly, regardless of whether he is truly guilty of the murders. I’m sure there are those at the Tribune who aren’t crazy about this story, either. The Trib is not tackling the Simon claims with the zeal it tackled other possible wrongful conviction stories, but to its credit it is putting stories in the paper. From the Sun-Times — the sounds of silence. Or as it said in 1999: “Outside that cold cell, who really cared?” Technorati Tags: Alstory Simon, Anthony Porter, Chicago media, murder, mystery |
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Posted on 05.09.06 by dancurry @ 12:13 pm
Technorati Tags: Alstory Simon, Anthony Porter, Chicago media, exoneration, murder, mystery |
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Posted on 05.09.06 by dancurry @ 8:08 am
This morning the Tribune has the scoop about two important new witnesses in the unraveling story of the nationally celebrated Anthony Porter exoneration in 1999.
Lawyers for Alstory Simon, who is serving 37 years in prison for the 1982 murders of Hillard and Green on Chicago’s southeast side, are filing the witness affidavits this morning in Cook County Circuit Court and then will talk to the media. Wonder if the Chicago Sun-Times will decide, finally, that this blockbuster story deserves a few sentences. Until now, the paper has refused to write a single word about the case. I’ll post the statements later today. Technorati Tags: Alstory Simon, Anthony Porter, Chicago media, exoneration, murder, mystery |
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Posted on 05.08.06 by dancurry @ 7:00 am
The gatekeepers in the Chicago media establishment don’t want to let this one in. Newly emerging evidence shows that the Anthony Porter exoneration that launched the Illinois death penalty moratorium may have been a fraud. The same people who were lionized by the news media for sparing Anthony Porter from the death penalty in 1999 framed an innocent man along the way, an explosive court filing alleges. The Porter exoneration in 1999 was a national story, even used last year by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy when he grilled Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. So if the exoneration is a fraud, that’s a big story, too, right? Not to the Chicago media, though, which is giving this emerging blockbuster story the silent treatment (with a few notable exceptions). Paul Meincke of ABC-7, perhaps the most respected TV reporter in Chicago, has done several stories, including an interview with the man who may have been framed. His stories are here and here. Most other Chicago TV stations have run at least one story in response to a press conference. The Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, the papers that have done thousands of stories about potential miscarriages of justice in our criminal justice system? Here’s the scorecard on the Porter exoneration fraud story: TRIBUNE — 4 short stories averaging 366 words, or about 10 paragraphs. And columnist Eric Zorn has written about the case twice largely to discredit the motives of the attorneys bringing the case, although he never once attacked the motives of any of the cast of characters who advocated on behalf of the dozens of other cases Eric has written about. I’ll say up front that I do not know who shot and killed Jerry Hillard and Marilyn Green on Chicago southeast side in 1982. But I was a reporter and editor for 15 years and I know a good story when I see one. For anyone interested in following this saga in the weeks ahead, I strongly urge you to read the post-conviction petition filed by Alstory Simon in Cook County Circuit Court. He is seeking a hearing based on all the new evidence. The petition is here. There are many facts in this case or any other. Here are a few that stand out: –No physical evidence has ever existed against Alstory Simon. –The two witnesses who implicated him years after the crime have recanted. –Nobody can place Simon near the scene of the crime near the time of the murders. –Several people place Porter at the scene at the time of the murders. –Simon’s “confession” that he since has recanted was miraculously obtained by flamboyant private investigator Paul Ciolino, who said in an interview, “we bull rushed him.” Ciolino then immediately arranged that Simon be represented by his friend, attorney Jack Rimland. During the time Rimland was representing Simon, he gave Ciolino and Northwestern journalism professor David Protess an award for uncovering evidence against his client! –A respected minister in Milwaukee has come forward and sworn that Simon told him his confession was false in 1999. I’ll have much more about the central figures in this case in future posts and my motivation in looking into it. Technorati Tags: Alstory Simon, Anthony Porter, Chicago media, exoneration, murder, mystery |
