Police brutality
Charles was 17 when he was arrested. This is what happened.
The first shooting for which he is convicted happened in October of 1990. Charles was hanging out with friends and more specifically having an argument with his girlfriend (Theresa). They had just said their goodbyes when they heard gunfire from another street, so everyone ran in the opposite direction.
Several months later, on January 5 of 1991, there was another shooting, this time the victim (Billy) survived, with a shot in the head. Charles was nowhere near that shooting. Yet he got convicted for this attempted murder as well.
On January 26, 1991 police officers (Ptak and Duffin) came to Charles' house, they told him there had been a shooting the night before and they asked for his assistance in solving the case. They also told him that he might be in danger himself. They assured his family that he was not in trouble.
When they arrived at the police station, the detectives questioned Charles on his whereabouts the night before. He explained he was at a party. They insisted he must have been the shooter. The questioning took hours and hours and they left him to wait in between interrogations. When they came back one detective slammed him into a locker and kneed him in the groin. Charles tried to get up but the other detective hit him in the side. They told him to stop lying or there would be more of the same.
Then the detectives started talking about the murder of October 1990, that he better confess to it. The State's Attorney was also present at parts of the interrogation. Charles was repeatedly told that no one would believe him anyway so it would be best to just admit it. That the State's Attorney could not help him if he did not confess. In the end Charles was asked a series of questions to which he answered yes or no and he was asked to sign it. This signed confession was the sole bit of "evidence" that got him convicted. There was - obviously - no forensic evidence whatsoever.
Police detectives Ptak and Duffin used this same MO in other arrests as well, read about those cases on this page.
This way of coercing a confession and even torture was normal practice in a number of stations of the Chicago Police Department at the time. Under police chief Burge this was part of standard procedure. A shockingly long list of similar cases can be found at The Chicago Police Torture Archives.
During the proceedings Charles' mother was never allowed to be present at the interrogation or even allowed to see her son.
From her statement:
"Police officers came to my house saying they like to take my son in for questioning regarding an incident that occurred the previous night. ... When they stepped out of the gate they handcuffed him and did not read him any rights. I asked them again are my son being arrested they said no, after 4 or 5 hours past by I got worried and went to the telephone to call the police station, they said they didn't know what I was talking about. Six hours later they told me to call 39th street station. ... it was getting later and later. ... I decided to take a trip there so I can see, and talk to my son. I was told to wait and have a cup of coffee; your son is not in any trouble or anything. Then I wanted to know why I was not allowed to see my son after been told to wait and wait and wait until 4:30 am. A man finally offered me a ride hom when I kept asking to see my son over and over again. They kept refusing to let me see him. Finally the guy told me I might as well take the ride home after sitting all night and that if I wanted to see my son go get a lawyer, otherwise you could not see your son. They escorted me home.
I found out the next day that my son was charged with murder, and still I was denied the right to see my son during questions."
Read on at "legal misrepresentation"
Charles' story in 3 episodes:
* police arrest, using brute force and a coerced confession
Wrongful conviction
Charles Jones, in prison since 1991 for crimes he did not commit
