State’s Attorney Announces Dismissal of Charges in Murder Case

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office vacated murder and voluntary manslaughter charges against a man currently serving a 37-year prison sentence following an extensive conviction integrity review of the three-decades-old Chicago murder case which involved allegations of wrongful convictions and coerced confessions, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced.

The conviction and sentence of Alstory Simon was dismissed in court this morning during a brief hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building in Chicago.  In 1999, Simon pled guilty to the 1982 murders of Marilyn Green and Jerry Hillard, a young couple who were shot and killed in the early morning hours at Washington Park on Chicago’s South Side.  Simon, who is currently 62 years old, was sentenced to 37 years in prison where he has remained until today.

Last year Simon’s attorneys raised questions about the conviction and requested that the case be reviewed by the State’s Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit.  Alvarez formed the unit in 2012 to investigate cases involving questionable or wrongful convictions.

Alvarez said that her office conducted an extensive conviction integrity review of the case, interviewing more than 100 individuals and pouring over decades-old police reports, court transcripts and any other potential information that could be tracked down and made available.

“This case has undoubtedly been the most complicated and most challenging re-investigation that we have undertaken but justice compels that I take action today,” Alvarez said.

Anthony Porter, 59, of Chicago, was originally convicted of the murders but was released from prison in 1999 following an investigation into Porter’s conviction by a former journalism professor, a private investigator employed by the professor and a team of young journalism students.

Professor David Protess and the students claimed that their investigation proved that Alstory Simon had committed the murders.  The private investigator, Paul Ciolino, then went on to obtain a videotaped confession from Simon and to make arrangements for Simon’s legal counsel as well.

Alvarez said the review by her administration has raised serious questions about the integrity of the original Protess reinvestigation as well as ethical questions about Simon’s legal representation.

“At the end of the day and in the best interests 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.

Since the creation of the Conviction Integrity Unit in 2012, Alvarez said her office has received more than 300 requests for the re-investigation of cases where an offender has been convicted of a crime and is seeking a review of their conviction.  The dismissal of Simon’s conviction today brings the total number of convictions that have been vacated by the State’s Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit to 10.