This morning, EP client Joseph Janke was exonerated following a re-trial in May. Mr. Janke was convicted of a 2012 attempted murder in Harvey, Illinois and spent 10 years wrongfully incarcerated. The shooters were 165 feet away from the victims and the shooting happened quickly. There were five victim-eyewitnesses, and three noted that they were in no position to make an identification.
One witness insisted that Mr. Janke was the shooter at the first trial, and so he was convicted despite the lack of any other evidence and was sentenced to most of his life in prison. His conviction was affirmed on appeal. Years later, the fifth eyewitness came forward and said that Mr. Janke was not one of the shooters and in fact the shooters were not white.
We won Mr. Janke’s post-conviction hearing last year and he was released on bond. The State went through with a re-trial. We had a bench trial in May. And today we got the great news that Judge Boyd found Mr. Janke not guilty of all charges. We are so happy for Mr. Janke and for his family. Congratulations!
We represent Mr. Janke along with Greg Swygert of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.
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