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 Rolando Cruz
Class Video
"Presumed Guilty"
[50:00 mins.] American Justice, A&E Home Video, hosted by Bill Kurtis)]
Case update: Thomas Knight was the assistant State's Attorney who prosecuted Rolando Cruz for the murder of Jeanine Nicario. Knight, with two other DuPage County prosecutors, and four sheriff's deputies were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy to commit official misconduct, in 1999. Los Angeles Times, April 7, 1999. Knight, fellow prosecutors, and police were acquitted of the criminal charges. World Socialist Web Site, June 16, 1999. Knight, charged with obstruction of justice in the Rolando Cruz case, won an acquittal and sued Maurice Possley and his employer, the Chicago Tribune, accusing them of defamation. Knight did not prevail in his defamation action. See, Knight v. Chicago Tribune Co. (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2008).
Assigned Reading
Murder Case Became a Test of Conscience Inside the System
Los Angeles Times, November 1, 1992
Prosecution on Trial in DuPage
Chicago Tribune, Maurice Possley & Ken Armstrong, January 12, 1999
The Verdict: Dishonor
Chicago Tribune, Ken Armstrong & Maurice Possley, January 10, 1999
The Snitch System
Northwestern University School of Law, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Center on Wrongful Convictions, 2004-2005
Supplemental ReadingThomas Frisbie & Randy Garrett, Victims of Justice Revisited (Northwestern University Press, rev. ed., 2005)
Reference (Videos)
Nicarico Murder Case
[9:21 mins.] Pt.2 :: 9:38 mins.] Pt3 [8:24 mins.] Pt4 [8:29 mins.] Pt5 [6:46 mins.]
Witness to Innocence: Rolando Cruz
[1:46 mins.]
Rolando Cruz on Working at Costco
[5:09 mins.]
Freeing the Wrongfully Convicted, Problems With US Criminal Justice System
[43:30 mins.] [interview of Bill Clutter, private investigator and principal founder of the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project at the University of Illinois-Springfield]
Web Resources
Rolando Cruz Case
Wikipedia
Jeanine Nicario Murder Case
Wikipedia
Backgrounder: The Jeanine Nicarico Case
Chicago Tribune, November 29, 2005
Rolando Cruz
Northwestern Law, Center on Wrongful Convictions
Rolando Cruz and Prosecutorial Misconduct
Democracy Now, April 7, 1999
7 on Trial for Framing Innocent Man for Rape, Murder
Los Angeles Times, April 7, 1999
Prosecution Finds Itself in Murder-Rape Case
Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1997
Illinois prosecutors and police acquitted despite evidence they framed defendant
World Socialist Web Site, June 16, 1999
Chicago Tribune coverage of the Nicarico case
Rolando Cruz seeks pardon
In December 2002, Cruz received a pardon based on innocence
from Illinois Governor George H. Ryan.
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