Prosecutors dropped charges on Wednesday against two defendants who were charged with murder in the 2011 shooting death of an off-duty Chicago police officer, turning the page on a years-long court battle that has been dogged in recent months with accusations of misconduct on behalf of the police and prosecutors who handled the case.
Chicago police Officer Clifton Lewis was shot and killed by two masked men in December 2011 while working a second job as security at a West Side convenience store. Cook County prosecutors charged Tyrone Clay, Alexander Villa and Edgardo Colon in the case that has dragged on for more than 10 years.
In a surprise move after months of contentious hearings and a labor-intensive process by the city to try to comply with discovery obligations amid allegations that officials buried evidence, Assistant State’s Attorneys Craig Engebretson and Kevin DeBoni told the court during a hearing Wednesday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building that they were dropping charges against Clay and Colon.
Colon had been awaiting a new trial after his conviction was thrown out by an Illinois appellate court, which said his constitutional rights were violated when police continued questioning him after he indicated he wanted a lawyer. A Cook County judge and an appellate court agreed that the statements should be thrown out. Clay had yet to go to trial, and remained incarcerated for more than 10 years while his case was pending.
Villa was convicted in 2019 but has not been sentenced and has a pending motion for a new trial.
The case was dropped as defense attorneys sought to call assistant state’s attorneys Andrew Varga and Nancy Adduci to give testimony about their handling of the case. Earlier this year, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office took Varga and Adduci off the case and assigned new prosecutors.
Defense attorneys had accused Varga and Adduci in court filings of deliberately trying to withhold evidence by using personal email addresses — not subject to disclosure under public record laws — in communications with the Chicago Police Department. They had filed a motion asking Reddick to levy sanctions against the prosecutors.
The parties have been tussling over ongoing evidence issues, with defense attorneys maintaining that police and prosecutors were not properly turning over evidence they need to defend their clients. Prosecutors and city attorneys had argued that some of the materials sought by the defense were entangled with a federal investigation and might not be disclosable under federal law.
The federal investigation in question, called Operation Snake Doctor, targeted the Spanish Cobras street gang and was done jointly with the Chicago Police Department.