Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has been in office barely 10 months, and already critics are attacking her for her laudable efforts to recalibrate an office that had drifted away from giving priority to protecting victims and holding offenders accountable. These attacks are coming from a network of lawyers, activists, researchers, consultants and consent decree monitors who have turned weaknesses in our criminal justice system into a lucrative cottage industry.
The people who make up this criminal defense industrial complex are alarmed by Burke succeeding Kim Foxx and are doing everything in their power to derail her long overdue and sorely needed reforms. Since 2008, taxpayers have paid out approximately $1.1 billion in police-related settlements.
Critics claim Burke has “abandoned” wrongful conviction investigations. That is false. Like any responsible prosecutor, she has stopped rubber-stamping mass releases of anyone ever arrested by a detective accused of misconduct. Under Foxx, the state’s attorney’s office became an advocate for criminals rather than victims.
Foxx’s conviction integrity unit often relied not on evidence of actual innocence but on alleged investigative irregularities. The most egregious example: routinely awarding certificates of innocence to individuals her own office acknowledged were not proven innocent, certificates that all but guaranteed success in subsequent civil lawsuits. In 2023, the Tribune reported that former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot accused Foxx of “handing out certificates of innocence like they’re candy.”
Consider the case of Gabriel Solache and Arturo DeLeon-Reyes. Both were wrongfully convicted of the brutal murders of a young couple and kidnapping of their child. Their co-defendant, Adrianna Mejia, who remains in prison, testified consistently for decades that Solache and Reyes committed the crimes with her. Yet, Foxx dropped the charges — despite her own first assistant, Eric Sussman, publicly declaring, “There is no doubt in my mind, or the mind of anyone who worked on this case, that Mr. Solache and Mr. Reyes are guilty.” Foxx’s office actually awarded them certificates of innocence, partially because their cases were handled by former Detective Reynaldo Guevara who faces allegations that he beat defendants. This was not an isolated case. Many of Foxx’s exonerees committed the underlying crimes but were nonetheless released and given tools to sue the city.
The financial toll has been staggering. Many Foxx exonerees have sued the city. She was unique nationwide in ordering prosecutor-directed exonerations in many cases involving a corrupt officer. Recently, Chicago agreed to nearly $90 million in settlements for 176 civil suits tied to disgraced former Sgt. Ronald Watts. The city may also pursue similar lump settlements involving Guevara — a move likely to cost several hundred million dollars more.
Burke is not taking the same path as Foxx in the case of former Chicago police Sgt. Brian Forberg, who has been accused of misconduct in several cases. Such accusations have predictably opened gold veins for trial lawyers, but Burke’s approach is rooted in principle: Justice must be adjudicated in court, not decreed administratively.
Foxx’s mass exoneration model was a reckless departure from norms of American prosecution. It continues to inflict devastating and historic financial damage on Chicago while undermining the credibility of wrongful conviction work. Exonerations must arise from judicial remedies based on factual findings — not political decrees made by prosecutors acting as judge and jury.
Burke’s has restored the state’s attorney’s office to its rightful mission: protecting victims, upholding due process and ensuring that justice serves the law, not the business interests of the criminal defense industry.
Paul Vallas is an adviser for the Illinois Policy Institute. He ran against Brandon Johnson for Chicago mayor in 2023 and was previously budget director for the city and CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
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