CHICAGO IL: In 2014, Christopher Ellis was wrongly convicted of aggravated battery against the police based on the testimony of two Chicago police officers who have engaged in a pattern of targeting Black people for harassment, physical abuse, and false arrest. After Mr. Ellis attempted to assert his rights, the two officers yanked him out of his car, threw him face down to the street, beat and stomped him, fired 50,000 volts of electricity into his back, and then falsely accused Mr. Ellis of aggravated battery against the police officers to cover up their abuse.
During the post-conviction investigation, his legal team demonstrated that the two accusing officers engaged in a significant pattern and practice of discriminatory violence against Black people. In early July, after an evidentiary hearing that spanned the course of several months, a Cook County judge (the same judge who presided at the original trial) vacated Mr. Ellis’ conviction. On November 14th, prosecutors dismissed the charges, and Christopher Ellis was exonerated after he’d been living with his wrongful conviction for 11 years.
This victory is a result of the powerful advocacy and collaboration of students and faculty across clinics at the University of Chicago Law School. Christopher Ellis is represented by attorneys Karl Leonard of the Exoneration Project, Craig Futterman of the Civil Rights & Police Accountability Project, and previously Herschella Conyers of the Criminal & Juvenile Justice Clinic.
Responses