Posted on September 25, 2018

18 Men Framed by ‘Corrupt’ Chicago Police Sergeant Have Convictions Overturned

Meghan Keneally, ABC News, September 24, 2018

The work of a “corrupt” police sergeant is still being undone in Chicago as 18 more wrongful convictions tied to his cases were overturned.

With the 18 vacated convictions announced today, that brings to 42 the total number of cases overturned that involved Sgt. Ronald Watts. All of the cases vacated today were connected connected to convictions following narcotics arrests.

Sgt. Ronald Watts

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Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said her office wants all convictions in the area to be “based on fairness and the utmost integrity.”

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Watts was convicted in 2012 and sentenced to 22 months in prison after he was caught stealing money from an FBI informant in a sting, ABC affiliate WLS reported in 2016, when 15 others had Watts-related convictions overturned.

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Both Wise and Mister Pearson, one of the 17 others whose convictions were vacated, said Watts or his team planted drugs on them at the time of their arrests.

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