People v. Washington
Annotate this Case
Washington and Hood were arrested in 1993; they were charged with armed robbery and murder. Washington, 19 years old, had no criminal record. He claims Chicago police detectives, subordinates of infamous Chicago detective Jon Burge, handcuffed him to a chair, interrogated him, beat him, kicked over his chair while he remained handcuffed to it, and subjected him to psychological abuse. After being detained for more than a day and a half, Washington signed a prewritten statement, falsely confessing to the murder. After Washington’s mistrial, Hood was convicted and sentenced to a 75-year term. Washington then accepted a 25-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea.
After a 2014 investigative article in The New Yorker about witness coercion, then-Governor Quinn commuted Hood’s sentence. In 2015, the state, on its own motion, moved to vacate both convictions, then nol-prossed the charges against both. Each filed a verified petition for certificates of innocence under 735 ILCS 5/2-702.
After a hearing, at which there was evidence of police abuse of the defendants in these and other cases and coercion of the witnesses, the Cook County circuit court denied Washington’s petition; the appellate court affirmed. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed. The statute does not impose a categorical bar precluding petitioners who pleaded guilty. This petitioner did not “voluntarily” cause his conviction by pleading guilty.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.