PHOTOS: Watts Team Scandal Press Conference, 7/20/2021
On July 20, 2021, 88 victims of disgraced former CPD Sgt. Ronald Watts filed a petition to vacate their wrongful convictions. All 88 petitioners served their sentences in prison and are now in the process of filing for the largest mass exoneration in Illinois history.
Josh Tepfer, petitioners, and supporters of the petition gather at the press conference on July 20, 2021 at the former site of Ida B. Wells Housing Project. Tepfer gestures toward the box of exhibits filed that day with the petition.
Josh Tepfer, attorney from the Exoneration Project, speaks at the press conference on July 20, 2021. On that day, 88 victims of disgraced CPD Sgt. Ronald Watts and his tactical team petitioned to vacate their wrongful convictions.
Clarissa Glenn, one of the first discovered Watts victims, speaks at the at the press conference on July 20, 2021. She was exonerated in 2016, after it was found that former Sgt. Watts committed perjury in a police report and planted drugs on her and her husband, Ben Baker. This is also the featured image.
(from left) Ben Baker and Clarissa Glenn speak at the press conference on July 20, 2021. Read more about Ben Baker’s case here: https://exonerationpro.wpengine.com/our-stories/ben-baker/
Caption: (from left) Ben Baker and Clarissa Glen speak at the press conference on July 20, 2021.
Gregory Young, a petitioner in the case, speaks at the press conference on July 20, 2021.
(from left) Joel Flaxman and Laurarence Coleman, a petitioner in the case, speak at the press conference on July 20, 2021. “I’m not a criminal. I’m a mother,” Colemand said. “They see this on my background and see ‘criminal.'”
(from left) Crystal Allen and Josh Tepfer speak at the press conference on July 20, 2021. Allen is one of the 88 victims petitioning to vacate her wrongful conviction. When she was a resident of Ida B. Wells Housing Project, she returned home from the store and arrested by former Sgt. Watts on false charges. She was 3 months pregnant at the time.
(from left) Crystal Allen and Josh Tepfer speak at the press conference on July 20, 2021.
(from left) Crytsal Allen and Josh Tepfer speak at the press conference on July 20, 2021.
(from left) Gregory and Tyrone Fenton speak at the press conference on July 10, 2021. Even after the two finished serving their time on wrongful convictions, former Sgt. Watts and his team continued to harass them.
James Gipson, a supporter of the petition, speaks at the press conference on July 20, 2021. “Look at these people. We’re all the same on this land,” Gipson said. “We just want to be left alone — let these people get on with their lives.”
Josh Tepfer speaks at the press conference on July 20, 2021.
Josh Tepfer speaks at the press conference on July 20, 2021. “If Black lives matter to this administration like they repeatedly say, it is time for accountability for the officers who ruined these Black lives.”
Ron Owens speaks at the press conference on July 10, 2021.
Teshama Beal speaks at the press conference on July 20, 2021. She was framed by former Sgt. Watts’ team at her aunt’s apartment in the early 2000s.
Joel Flaxman, attorney from the Law Offices of Kennth N. Flaxman P.C., speaks at the press conference on July 20, 2021. Flaxman represents 28 of the 88 petitioners.
Deon Willis, an exonerated supporter of the petition, speaks at the press conference on July 20, 2021. “If you’re not part of the Watts crew, distance yourselves from corruption and set these people free.”
(from left) Joel Flaxman, Sean Starr, and Josh Tepfer speak at the press conference on July 20, 2021. Each of the 88 petitioners has already served their sentence in prison, where they were incarcerated on wrongful convictions by former Sgt. Watts’ team. Many of the officers on that team are still serving on the force today and receiving money from the CPD.
