Chicago Tribune Highlights Corey Batchelor Case

In light of investigations by Chicago’s conviction integrity unit and the Illinois torture commission into cases involving allegations of torture by detectives under former police commander Jon Burge,


 The Chicago Tribune


 profiled the case of Innocence Project client Corey Batchelor on Monday.

Batchelor was arrested along with his friend Kevin Bailey in connection with the 1989 stabbing death of Lula Mae Woods. Police said they received a tip-off from an informant about Batchelor, but the informant was never called upon to testify. Both Batchelor and Bailey say they were subject to long and intense interrogations, during which they were physically tortured and fed information about the crime.

Batchelor was found guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.  He was released on parole in 2004. His attorneys secured DNA testing on a hair found at the scene of the crime, which resulted in potential matches to two brothers who, at the time of the murder, were only children. Innocence Project Staff Attorney Bryce Benjet told the

Tribune

that the lack of DNA evidence linking Batchelor to the crime and the circumstances of his confession should be enough to warrant a new trial.

“So we have confessions that, first of all, don’t fit each other and, second of all, don’t fit the forensic evidence,” Benjet told the

Tribune

. “Whether we’re able to identify the person whose DNA it is or not, the facts already are a game changer and proves these guys didn’t do it.”

Read the full article

here

.