National Roundup

Illinois
Jury awards $25 million to man in wrongful murder conviction
CHICAGO (AP) — A federal jury on Friday awarded more than $25 million to a man who sued the city of Chicago and two police detectives after being wrongfully convicted of murder and spending nearly 23 years in jail.

Eddie Bolden was freed from prison in 2016, two years after an appellate court found his trial attorney was ineffective. The Cook County state’s attorney’s office dropped the case rather than put Bolden on trial again and he was granted a certificate of innocence, allowing him to receive state payment for his time in prison.

But attorneys for the city and detectives argued during the federal trial that Bolden’s criminal trial was fair and that he’s guilty of the 1994 murders.

A spokesperson said Chicago’s Law Department “is reviewing the verdict and is assessing its legal options.”

Jurors ordered the city to pay $25 million in compensatory damages, and the two surviving police detectives to pay $100,000 in punitive damages. The Chicago Tribune reports that the total award tops the $25 million verdict given to Thaddeus Jimenez in 2012, and is believed to be the highest award in a wrongful conviction case in Chicago.

Bolden’s lawsuit alleged that he was framed in the killings of 24-year-old Derrick Frazier and 23-year-old Irving Clayton. Bolden’s attorney, Ron Safer, told jurors that police had no evidence that he was involved in the drug deal that led to the killings.

Safer argued that Bolden was the only man put in a police lineup who matched the physical description a witness provided, and that detectives ignored other key evidence.

“I think the jury recognized that he was victimized by a system that unfortunately has victimized people for too long, and they want it to stop,” Safer said after the decision.

Attorneys for the city and the detectives argued that Bolden had connections to a high-ranking gang member who had leverage over the witnesses claiming Bolden had an alibi, giving police good reason to distrust them.

Standing with his attorneys in the lobby of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse after the jury’s decision, Bolden, 51, teared up as he said he could barely find words to describe what he felt.

“Finally,” he said. “It’s all I can say right now.”

Colorado
State Supreme Court approves new congressional districts
Denver (AP) — Colorado’s Supreme Court on Monday approved the state’s new congressional map, rejecting arguments from civil rights groups that the redistricting plan deprives Latinos of a fair say in congressional elections.

The map from the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission preserved the state’s 4-3 split between Democratic and Republican-leaning house districts, while adding an eighth in the suburbs north of Denver that is a legitimate swing district, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.

The court had until Monday to approve the map or send it back. Democratic and civil rights groups asked the court to make the commission redraw the boundaries to increase the number of Latinos in both the new swing seat and the southern and western district currently represented by Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert. They argued that provisions in the 2018 ballot measure establishing the commission required extra attention to bolstering the political power of minority groups.

But the court found the provisions simply echo requirements of the Voting Rights Act that are not applicable in a state like Colorado, where the Latino population is widely dispersed and it would be challenging to draw a majority-Latino district.

“We conclude that the Commission’s Plan complies with the VRA,” Justice Monica Marquez wrote.


Alabama
Judge booted for racist, inappropriate behavior
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A judge who oversees elections in an Alabama county was removed from office after being accused of racist, sexually inappropriate behavior that included demeaning comments about women and saying George Floyd “got what he deserved” when an officer in Minnesota murdered him.

Talladega County Probate Judge Randy Jinks, 65, was ousted in a unanimous order filed Friday by the nine-member Alabama Court of the Judiciary. Following a trial, the panel found that he violated five judicial ethics rules including failing to uphold the integrity and independence of the court system.

A former business owner who served as chairman of the county Republican executive committee, Jinks denied most of the claims, blamed workers for misinterpreting jokes and accused employees of eavesdropping, court records showed.

Jinks, who doesn’t have a law license, was first elected in 2018 and took office the following year. His conduct was the subject of a complaint filed in March that accused him of watching and sharing sexually inappropriate videos and making comments about the appearance and anatomy of women.

Jinks also mouthed the n-word when referring to Black people, including during Black Lives Matter demonstrations, and told a deputy clerk that Black people get benefits and welfare “because of the color of their skin” that don’t go to white people, the complaint said.

Jinks made multiple racist comments after Minneapolis police killed Floyd, a Black man whose death became a rallying point for protests nationally, including calling the victim “just another thug” and saying “he pretty much got what he deserved,” the complaint said.

The court found that after Jinks saw a new automobile purchased by the only Black employee in the probate office, he remarked: “I seen that car. I can’t even — I’m the judge and I can’t even afford a Mercedes. What you doing, selling drugs?”

Jinks also improperly tried to help a woman get an early release from a prison sentence imposed in a neighboring county, the court found.

Jinks denied the allegations, and his lawyer released a statement to media outlets saying his remarks were taken “completely out of context” and viewed in a way to make Jinks look as bad as possible. The ruling can be appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court.

Located east of Birmingham, Talladega County has about 80,000 residents. Jinks’ duties under state law included supervising elections in the county, and he also handled probate matters including wills. Probate judges under state law are not required to be attorneys.

Jinks was elected to the Talladega County Commission in 1986 and worked six years on the staff of former Rep. Bob Riley, who later served two terms as Alabama governor.