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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

EASTERN DIVISION

JOHN FULTON,

 Plaintiff,

 v.

ROBERT BARTIK, JOHN ZALATORIS, JAMES 

BREEN, LEONARD ROLSTON, EDWARD

WINSTEAD, JOSEPH STRUCK, ROBERT

GIRARDI, RICHARD CERVENKA, MICHAEL 

KENNEDY, MICHAEL SCHMITZ, BRIAN SKORA, 

INV. S. FRANCO (#40141), DETECTIVE AGUIRRE, 

UNKNOWN CHICAGO POLICE OFFICERS, 

MCRAY JUDGE, JACOB RUBINSTEIN, ANDREW 

VARGA, EUGENE SHEPHERD, COOK COUNTY,

and the CITY OF CHICAGO,

 Defendants.

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JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

COMPLAINT

 NOW COMES Plaintiff JOHN FULTON, by his undersigned attorneys, LOEVY & 

LOEVY and LYON LAW, complaining of Defendants ROBERT BARTIK, JOHN 

ZALATORIS, JAMES BREEN, LEONARD ROLSTON, EDWARD WINSTEAD, JOSEPH 

STRUCK, ROBERT GIRARDI, RICHARD CERVENKA, MICHAEL KENNEDY, MICHAEL 

SCHMITZ, BRIAN SKORA, INV. S. FRANCO (#40141), DETECTIVE AGUIRRE, 

UNKNOWN CHICAGO POLICE OFFICERS, MCRAY JUDGE, JACOB RUBINSTEIN, 

ANDREW VARGA, EUGENE SHEPHERD, COOK COUNTY, and the CITY OF CHICAGO,

and alleging in support as follows:

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INTRODUCTION

1. Plaintiff John Fulton was a teenager who had never been convicted of any crime

when, in 2003, he was wrongfully arrested for the gruesome murder of Christopher Collazo. 

Plaintiff was entirely innocent of that crime, and no physical evidence, eyewitnesses, or any 

other credible evidence ever connected him to Collazo’s murder. 

2. Defendants fabricated all of the evidence used to convict Plaintiff—including 

using physical and psychological abuse to extract false confessions from Plaintiff—and withheld 

exculpatory evidence that proves, among other things, that Plaintiff’s alibi for the night of the 

Collazo murder was airtight.

3. Aside from this coerced, false confession, Plaintiff has always maintained his 

innocence.

4. Defendants’ misconduct caused Plaintiff to be convicted of Collazo’s murder and 

sentenced to 31 years in prison. 

5. In 2019, Cook County Judge Lawrence Flood vacated Plaintiff’s convictions, 

along with the convictions of his co-defendant Anthony Mitchell, based on new evidence of their 

innocence and in recognition that constitutional violations had tainted their trial. Prosecutors 

subsequently dropped all charges against them.

6. As a result of Defendants’ misconduct, Plaintiff spent over 16 years behind bars 

for a crime of which he was completely innocent. He now seeks justice for the harms Defendants 

caused him and redress for the loss of liberty and terrible hardship that he endured and continues

to endure because of Defendants’ callous, illegal actions. 

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JURISDICTION AND VENUE

7. This action is brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Illinois law to redress the 

Defendants’ tortious conduct and their deprivation of Plaintiff’s rights secured by the U.S. 

Constitution.

8. This Court has jurisdiction of this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343 and 

1367.

9. Venue is proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b). Plaintiff resides in this judicial 

district. The events and omissions giving rise to Plaintiff’s claims occurred within this judicial 

district, including the investigation, prosecution, and trials resulting in Plaintiff’s convictions. 

And many, if not all, of the Defendants reside in this judicial district.

PARTIES

10. Plaintiff is an African-American man and resident of Cook County, Illinois, who 

spent over 16 years incarcerated for a murder of which he was completely innocent. At the time 

of his arrest, Plaintiff was an 18-year-old high school senior.

11. At all times relevant to the events described in this Complaint, Defendants Robert 

Bartik, John Zalatoris, James Breen, Leonard Rolston, Edward Winstead, Joseph Struck, Robert 

Girardi, Richard Cervenka, Michael Kennedy, Michael Schmitz, Brian Skora, Inv. S. Franco 

(#40141), Detective Aguirre , and other unknown law enforcement officers (collectively, the 

“Police Officer Defendants”) were police officers in the Chicago Police Department.

12. At all times relevant to the events described in this Complaint, Defendants 

Richard Cervenka, Michael Kennedy, and other unknown law enforcement officers supervised 

the other officers in the preceding paragraph. These Defendants participated in the misconduct 

alleged in this Complaint and also facilitated, condoned, approved, and turned a blind eye to the 

misconduct of the Defendants whom they supervised.

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13. Defendant City of Chicago is an Illinois municipal corporation that is or was the 

employer of the above-named Police Officer Defendants. Each of those Police Officer 

Defendants acted during their investigation of the Collazo murder as agents or employees of the 

City of Chicago. The City of Chicago is liable for all torts committed by the Police Officer 

Defendants pursuant to the doctrine of respondeat superior. The City of Chicago is also 

responsible for the policies and practices of the Chicago Police Department, regardless of 

whether the Police Officer Defendants were aware that acting in accordance with certain of the 

Departments’ policies and practices would deprive Plaintiffs of their constitutional rights.

14. At all times relevant to the events described in this Complaint, Defendants Judge,

Rubinstein, and Varga (collectively, the “Prosecutor Defendants”) were Assistant Cook County 

State’s Attorneys. These Defendants conspired with the Police Officer Defendants, prior to the 

existence of probable cause to believe Plaintiffs had committed a crime, and while acting in an 

investigatory capacity, to conceal and fabricate evidence, manipulate witness testimony, coerce 

false confessions, and maliciously prosecute Plaintiff for Christopher Collazo’s murder.

15. At all times relevant to the events described in this Complaint, Defendant 

Shepherd was an investigator for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. 

16. Defendant Cook County is a governmental entity within the State of Illinois, 

which consists in part of its Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Defendant Cook County was 

at all relevant times the employer of Defendants Judge, Rubinstein, Varga, and Shepherd, and is 

a necessary party to this lawsuit.

17. Each and every individual Defendant, known and unknown, acted under color of 

law and within the scope of his or her employment at all times relevant to this lawsuit. Each of 

the individual Defendants is sued in his or her individual capacity unless otherwise noted. 

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PLAINTIFF’S FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

The Crime

18. Around 3:00AM on March 10, 2003, a man called 911 to report an alley fire in 

the 5200 block of South Peoria Street. Responding officers arrived at the scene to find 

Christopher Collazo’s partially burned remains.

19. Collazo’s body was bound with duct tape around his wrists and ankles, and duct 

tape also covered his mouth. There was visible blood on his body and on the ground in its

immediate vicinity.

The Initial Investigation

20. After Collazo’s body was discovered on March 10, 2003, Police Officer 

Defendants interviewed the 911-caller, a neighborhood resident named Sid Taylor.

21. Taylor explained to Defendants that he had seen a fire in the alley from his 

window and two men near the fire. He also told Defendants that he had been unable to see the 

race of either man.

22. Also, on March 10, Police Officer Defendants interviewed Collazo’s friend 

Marcus Marinelli.

23. Marinelli is the last person known to have seen Collazo alive. 

24. Collazo and Marinelli were both active members of the Maniac Latin Disciples 

street gang.

25. Marinelli told Defendants that he had last seen Collazo at 9:00 PM on March 9. 

Marinelli also told Defendants that he and Collazo had robbed a Black teenager at gunpoint 

approximately one month earlier. He explained that a 17-year-old girl named Johnitta Griffin had 

referred the teenager to Collazo to purchase a gun from him but that he and Collazo had robbed 

the teen instead. 

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26. Police Officer Defendants subsequently interviewed Griffin. 

27. During her first interview, Griffin explained that she was friends with Collazo but 

knew nothing about his murder. She told the officers that she had referred Plaintiff, a friend of 

hers, to Collazo in order to purchase a gun, which Plaintiff had wanted for personal protection,

and that Collazo and Marinelli had robbed Plaintiff rather than selling him a gun.

28. Griffin denied knowing of any connection between that robbery and Collazo’s 

murder a month later. 

29. At some point, Police Officer Defendants gathered information relating to the 

Collazo murder that had no connection to Plaintiff, including a license plate number. This 

information was exculpatory for Plaintiff, but Defendants withheld this information from anyone 

outside the Chicago Police Department—even the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

30. Additionally, at a time currently unknown to Plaintiff, Defendants Schmitz and 

Skora created a police report in which they falsely document that Sid Taylor had identified the 

race of the men he saw in the alley near Collazo’s body as Black. 

Defendants Begin Building a False Case Against Plaintiff

31. Defendants chose not to pursue a legitimate investigation into Collazo’s murder. 

Instead, they opted to close the case quickly by framing Plaintiff and, ultimately, Anthony 

Mitchell and Antonio Shaw, a 15-year-old friend of Plaintiff and Mitchell. 

32. To frame Plaintiff, Mitchell, and Shaw, Police Officer Defendants re-interviewed

Griffin. Through threats and intimidation, and by feeding her a false narrative that they had 

concocted, Defendants coerced Griffin into falsely implicating Plaintiff in Collazo’s murder. In 

Griffin’s false new account, Plaintiff had demanded that she facilitate revenge on Collazo for the 

February robbery, and she had talked with him multiple times by phone on and around March 9. 

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33. The Police Officer Defendants arranged for and conspired with Defendant 

Assistant State’s Attorney Rubinstein to record a false statement from Griffin. Defendant 

Rubinstein allowed the Police Officer Defendants to fabricate Griffin’s statement, and then 

falsely documented that the statement had come from Griffin as a result of a legitimate police 

interview. Defendant Rubinstein did so because he was aware that probable cause did not exist to 

charge either Plaintiff or Mitchell for the Collazo murder.

34. In the alternative, the Police Officer Defendants concealed their fabrication of 

Griffin’s statement from the Prosecutor Defendants.

35. Defendants knew that Griffin’s new account, which they had concocted and fed to 

her, was false. Defendants’ purpose was not to obtain truthful information from Griffin, nor was 

it to find Collazo’s real killer or killers. Thus, they took no steps to corroborate the story they had 

coerced from her. They did not inspect her phone; they did not seek her or Plaintiff’s phone 

records; and they did not verify simple and easily disprovable details of her account. These basic 

investigative steps would have shown the new Griffin story to be impossible.

The Arrest and Initial Questioning of Plaintiff

36. Based solely on Griffin’s coerced, fabricated false statements, Defendants entered 

Plaintiff’s apartment with their guns drawn in the early hours of March 18, 2003 and arrested 

him. 

37. At the time of Plaintiff’s arrest, he was an 18-year-old high school senior, two 

months away from graduation. 

38. He was living with his fiancée, Yolanda Henderson, and their infant child. He had 

no criminal convictions and no gang affiliation.

39. At the police station, Defendants questioned Plaintiff about his relationship with 

Christopher Collazo. Plaintiff truthfully explained that Johnitta Griffin had put him in touch with 

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Collazo in late January or early February so that he could purchase a gun from him for personal 

protection, that he (along with Anthony Mitchell and Antonio Shaw) had gone to meet Collazo

and Marinelli, who had robbed Plaintiff at gunpoint, taking a wad of cash totaling $15.

40. Neither Plaintiff nor Mitchell saw Collazo again after that night, which Plaintiff 

truthfully told Defendants.

41. Defendants refused to accept Plaintiff’s truthful denials, and they continued their 

interrogation and accused him of murdering Collazo in revenge for the robbery. Plaintiff denied 

seeking revenge on Collazo and denied any knowledge of his death. Plaintiff told Defendants 

truthfully that he was with Yolanda Henderson at the University of Chicago Hospital emergency 

room starting before 9:00 PM on the night of March 9 and otherwise home at their apartment 

until he left for school on the morning of March 10, several hours after Collazo’s body was 

found.

Defendants Coerce Plaintiff To Falsely Confess and To Implicate Mitchell

42. Instead of taking appropriate steps to investigate Plaintiff’s truthful alibi,

Defendants demanded that he abandon it and confess to Collazo’s murder. They insisted that he 

adopt the fabricated story they had coerced from Griffin—a story that a mountain of objective 

evidence would later expose as impossible. In order to ensure they coerced a confession that they 

could use, Defendants fed Plaintiff details about Collazo’s murder that he could not have 

otherwise known.

43. Plaintiff initially refused to falsely confess, but Defendants were unrelenting in 

their demands and employed illegal tactics to overcome his will. Eventually, they succeeded in 

coercing Plaintiff to confess to Collazo’s murder—and to implicate his friends, Anthony 

Mitchell and Antonio Shaw. 

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44. Defendants’ coercive interrogation tactics included, but were not limited to, false 

promises of leniency, threats, and physical violence, all while holding Plaintiff incommunicado 

in harsh conditions of detention over an extended period of time.

45. These tactics and others, over the lengthy period of time during which he was 

held in custody, eventually overcame Plaintiff’s will. The resulting confessions he gave were 

entirely and demonstrably false. Any true facts they contained about Collazo’s murder were fed 

to Plaintiff by Defendants.

46. The Police Officer Defendants arranged for and conspired with Defendants

Assistant State’s Attorneys Judge and Rubinstein to coerce Plaintiff’s false confession and false 

statements implicating Mitchell and Shaw, and then to document falsely that the statements had 

come from Fulton as a result of legitimate police interrogation tactics. Additionally, to carry out 

this plot, Defendant Judge deliberately failed to document Plaintiff’s statements that his 

confession was false and had been coerced from him in his report.

47. Defendants Judge and Rubinstein did these things because they were aware that 

probable cause did not exist to charge either Plaintiff or Mitchell for the Collazo murder, and 

they were complicit with the Police Officer Defendants in wanting to frame them for that 

murder.

48. In the alternative, the Police Officer Defendants concealed their coercive 

interrogation tactics and their fabrication of Plaintiff’s statement from the Prosecutor Defendants.

49. Over the course of their multi-day interrogation, Defendants coerced Plaintiff to 

give multiple versions of his fabricated false statements, which he adopted, recanted and 

amended as Defendants honed the “confession” to fit their developing understanding of the 

evidence.

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50. Plaintiff’s false confession included that he, Mitchell, and Shaw had severely 

beaten Collazo and had placed him in the trunk of Fulton’s car for an extended period. Because 

Defendants knew the confession was false, they did not seek to have Plaintiff’s car tested for

Collazo’s blood or DNA.

51. Instead of seeking the true perpetrators, Defendants chose to bolster the fabricated 

false confessions they had coerced from Plaintiff by fabricating an additional false confession 

that he never gave. This additional false statement was ostensibly obtained by Defendant Bartik, 

a police officer and polygrapher, while Bartik was supposed to be preparing to perform a 

polygraph examination of Plaintiff. 

52. Defendant Bartik falsely claimed that Plaintiff spontaneously confessed to 

Collazo’s murder before the planned exam, after which Bartik no longer saw a need to perform 

it. But Plaintiff never confessed to Bartik whatsoever. This supposed “confession” was entirely 

fabricated by Defendant Bartik.

The Police Officer Defendants’ History of Misconduct

53. This fabricated confession was not an aberration for Defendant Bartik, but rather 

was a practice that he employed in numerous other cases, telling a strikingly similar false story 

about numerous other individuals. In at least the following instances, Bartik has falsely claimed 

that a suspect spontaneously confessed to him during preparation for a polygraph exam:

a. In 2001, Bartik falsely claimed that, before he had the opportunity to give 

teenager Dany Lanza a polygraph exam, Mr. Lanza blurted out a confession to 

child molestation. 

b. In 2001, Bartik falsely claimed that Donny McGee orally confessed to a gruesome 

murder before Bartik had the chance to administer a polygraph exam to Mr. 

McGee. Despite Bartik’s claim that Mr. McGee confessed, Mr. McGee was 

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acquitted at trial after the evidence revealed that Mr. McGee was making phone 

calls to his groomsmen in preparation for his upcoming wedding at the time of the 

murder. Furthermore, DNA testing performed on blood found at the scene of the 

murder excluded Mr. McGee. 

c. In 2003, Bartik falsely claimed that Lamar Blount confessed to murder, 

supposedly before Bartik had the chance to give him a polygraph exam. Despite 

that alleged confession, Mr. Blount was cleared of all charges.

d. In 1999, Bartik falsely claimed that Rory Cook confessed to him about 

committing a murder. According to Bartik, Mr. Cook also blurted out his 

confession before he could administer a polygraph exam.

e. In 2003, Bartik falsely claimed that Lee Murphy confessed to him about 

committing a murder, again (according to Bartik) doing so before Bartik even 

began administering the polygraph exam.

f. In 2001, Bartik falsely claimed that Michael Banks made inculpatory statements 

to him regarding a murder investigation. Bartik claimed these statements took 

place at the polygraph office but outside of the formal polygraph exam.

g. In 2004, Bartik falsely claimed that Demetrius Daniels made inculpatory 

statements to him regarding the death of Mr. Daniels’ three-month-old daughter 

during the “pre-test” period of the polygraph exam.

h. In 2003, Bartik falsely claimed that Robert Robinson made inculpatory statements 

to him before Bartik had begun administering the polygraph exam.

54. In the realm of polygraph administration, it is extremely rare for someone to 

confess prior to the examination. Yet Defendant Bartik has claimed to have obtained more than 

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100 confessions over a five-year period during this “pre-test” period. For this phenomenon to 

happen repeatedly to Defendant Bartik defies all statistical probability.

55. In addition to the practice described above, Defendant Bartik has a pattern of 

misconduct related to the improper and unconstitutional questioning of criminal suspects and the 

improper and corrupt use of polygraph examinations, including, for example:

a. In 2005, Bartik participated in a physically violent and psychologically coercive

interrogation of Nicole Harris, including lying about a polygraph exam, forcing 

Ms. Harris to falsely confess to murdering her four-year-old son, who had in fact 

died as a result of a tragic accident. Ms. Harris was exonerated after her 

conviction was thrown out due to violations of her constitutional right to a fair 

trial.

b. In 2000, Bartik participated in a physically violent and psychologically coercive 

interrogation of Anteleto Jones, forcing Mr. Jones to falsely confess to a murder. 

Several eyewitnesses have come forward to explain that Jones was not involved in 

the shooting, but Mr. Jones was convicted due to Bartik’s misconduct.

c. In 2000, Bartik helped to frame Larry Scott for a murder he did not commit by 

falsely claiming a polygraph examination of an alternative suspect was 

inconclusive, even though that suspect admitted to stabbing the murder victim 

during the exam.

56. As with Defendant Bartik, the misconduct committed by the other Police Officer 

Defendants during the Collazo murder investigation was not an aberration. Indeed, several of the 

Police Officer Defendants have extensive histories of committing similar misconduct in other 

cases, including but not limited to the following instances:

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a. In 2001, Defendant Zalatoris used physical violence and psychological coercion 

while interrogating 16-year-old Andre Richardson, in order to coerce Mr. 

Richardson to give an involuntary confession to murdering his infant daughter.

b. In 2000, Zalatoris used physical violence and psychological coercion to extract an 

involuntary confession from Paul Salgado, despite the fact that Zalatoris knew 

Mr. Salgado was represented by an attorney and knew Mr. Salgado had invoked 

his Miranda rights.

c. In 1997, Defendant Rolston was part of a corrupt police investigation that targeted 

15-year-old Eric Kittler and coerced him to falsely confess to a fatal grocery store 

robbery, despite his complete innocence. Due to the misconduct committed by 

Rolston and other Chicago Police officers, Mr. Kittler was wrongfully convicted 

and spent five years behind bars before his conviction was overturned and he was 

acquitted because there was no evidence implicating him in the crime. Mr. Kittler 

brought a lawsuit against Rolston and the other officers who framed him, which 

the City of Chicago settled for $2 million.

d. In 1997, Rolston was part of a corrupt police investigation that targeted Robert 

Wilson. Rolston and other Chicago Police officers used physical violence and 

psychological coercion to get Mr. Wilson to confess to a violent assault at a bus 

stop, and used manipulative and unduly suggestive tactics to obtain a false 

identification of Mr. Wilson by the victim, while unlawfully suppressing 

exculpatory evidence casting doubt on the victim’s identification.

e. In 1999, Zalatoris and Rolston both participated in a multi-day, abusive 

interrogation of Richard Malek, subjecting Mr. Malek to physical violence 

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accompanied by threats and other psychologically coercive tactics while holding 

Mr. Malek incommunicado at Area One, in order to obtain an involuntary 

confession from him.

57. In addition to their frequent involvement in similar corrupt and abusive police 

investigations, several of the Police Officer Defendants have been repeatedly implicated in 

perpetrating acts of unjustified violence against members of the public, demonstrating willful 

disregard for the constitutional protections against excessive force and echoing their willingness 

to use violence during police interrogations to achieve their desired ends. These examples 

include several unjustified acts of violence so serious that they led to civil rights lawsuits against 

the Police Officer Defendants, including both Defendant Zalatoris (Harris v. Paluch, et al., 91-

cv-0362; Cora, et al. v. City of Chicago, et al., 91-cv-3407; East, et al. v. City of Chicago, et al., 

88-cv-8131, Williams v. City of Chicago, et al., 04-cv-5131) and Defendant Breen (Williams v. 

City of Chicago, et al., 04-cv-5131).

58. The history of similar misconduct perpetrated by the Police Officer Defendants is 

borne out by the numerous citizen complaints filed against them. Indeed, the Police Officer 

Defendants rank among the most prolific officers in the Chicago Police Department in terms of 

accumulating allegations of misconduct from members of the public and fellow officers. For 

example, Defendant Breen is in the 93rd percentile for complaints filed against him (more 

complaints than 93% of other Chicago police officers, adjusted to account for years of service); 

Defendant Zalatoris is in the 90th percentile; and Defendant Winstead and Defendant Struck are 

in the 89th percentile. 

Anthony Mitchell’s Arrest and Coerced False Confession

59. At the time of Anthony Mitchell’s arrest, he was 17-years-old. Like Fulton, he 

had no criminal convictions and no gang affiliation.

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60. Mitchell was arrested near midnight on March 19, 2003, over 48 hours into 

Plaintiff’s interrogation. Mitchell truthfully denied any involvement in or knowledge of

Christopher Collazo’s murder, but Defendants, by employing abusive interrogation tactics, 

ultimately succeeded in coercing a false confession from him, just as they had succeeded with 

Plaintiff.

61. To obtain Mitchell’s false confession, Defendants used similar psychologically 

coercive and physically violent tactics as they had used—and were still using—on Fulton. 

62. Defendants terrorized Mitchell until they overbore his will and were able to 

coerce him to say what they wanted him to say.

63. The Police Officer Defendants arranged for and conspired with Defendant 

Assistant State’s Attorney Rubinstein to fabricate Mitchell’s false confession and false 

statements implicating Plaintiff and Shaw, and then falsely document that the statements had 

come from Mitchell as a result of legitimate police interrogation tactics. Defendant Rubinstein 

did these things because he was aware that probable cause did not exist to charge either Plaintiff 

or Mitchell for the Collazo murder, and he was complicit with the Defendant Officers in acting 

to frame them for that murder.

64. In the alternative, the Police Officer Defendants concealed their coercive 

interrogation tactics and their fabrication of Mitchell’s statement from the Prosecutor 

Defendants.

65. Over the course of their multi-day interrogation, Defendants coerced Mitchell to 

give multiple versions of his fabricated false statements, which he adopted, recanted and 

amended as Defendants honed the “confession” to fit their developing understanding of the 

evidence.

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66. The false confession Defendants obtained from Mitchell largely mirrored the false 

confession that Defendants obtained from Fulton. As with the Fulton confession, later-emerging 

evidence would prove that the sequence of events fed to Mitchell was impossible.

Antonio Shaw’s Arrest and Coerced False Confession

67. Plaintiff’s friend Antonio Shaw was implicated in Collazo’s murder by the 

coerced false confessions of Plaintiff and Mitchell. He was then fifteen years old.

68. Like Plaintiff and Mitchell, Shaw had no involvement whatsoever in the murder. 

Nor did Defendants have any legitimate reason to suspect him of being involved.

69. The Police Officer Defendants nevertheless arrested Shaw. 

70. After arresting him, they presented Shaw with the false confessions of Plaintiff 

and Mitchell and subjected him to a physically and psychologically coercive interrogation.

71. Shaw ultimately succumbed to Defendants’ illegal interrogation tactics and

falsely confessed to Collazo’s murder. He also falsely implicated Plaintiff and Mitchell in that 

murder.

72. The Police Officer Defendants arranged for and conspired with Defendant 

Assistant State’s Attorney Varga to fabricate Shaw’s false confession and false statements 

implicating Plaintiff and Mitchell, and then to document falsely that the statements had come 

from Shaw as a result of legitimate police interrogation tactics. 

73. Defendant Varga did these things because he was aware that probable cause did 

not exist to charge either Plaintiff, Mitchell, or Shaw for the Collazo murder, and he was 

complicit with the Police Officer Defendants in wanting to frame them for that murder.

74. In the alternative, the Police Officer Defendants concealed their coercive 

interrogation tactics and their fabrication of Shaw’s statement from the Prosecutor Defendants.

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75. Based on Shaw’s coerced, false statements and other evidence fabricated by

Defendants, Shaw was charged with murdering Collazo. 

76. Before trial, however, Shaw successfully moved to suppress his false confession. 

The judge ruled that the confession had been obtained through illegal, false promises of leniency. 

The state declined to appeal the court’s grant of Shaw’s motion and instead dropped the charges 

against him.

77. Defendants’ coercion of false statements from Shaw was part of their conspiracy 

to frame him, Plaintiff, and Mitchell for Collazo’s murder. Although Shaw’s false confession 

ultimately was suppressed and so could not be used against him, its existence damaged Shaw’s 

ability to provide exculpatory testimony at trial on behalf of Plaintiff and Mitchell.

Evidence Contradicts Defendants’ Fabricated Stories

78. Evidence soon emerged that proved Defendants’ fabricated narratives about 

Collazo’s murder were false and that Fulton and Mitchell’s original and subsequent denials of 

involvement in the murder were true. This evidence includes, but is not limited to, evidence that 

the logistics of Fulton and Mitchell’s supposed travel from the Southside to the Northside and 

the circumstances of their supposed encounter with Collazo were physically impossible, and 

phone records and video evidence which confirmed that Fulton had an ironclad alibi for the time 

he and Mitchell were supposedly murdering Collazo.

79. Plaintiff’s fully corroborated alibi also demonstrates that Mitchell is innocent of 

the Collazo murder. The prosecution’s sole theory of Mitchell’s involvement was that Fulton

knew from Griffin where to find Collazo on March 9, recruited Mitchell to exact revenge on 

Collazo, and drove his own car to commit the crime. 

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Defendants Concoct New False Stories and Fabricate Additional Evidence

80. As the evidence mounted that Plaintiff’s alibi was true, conclusively 

demonstrating the falsity of their fabricated evidence implicating both Fulton and Mitchell,

Defendants concocted a new false story to explain how Fulton and Mitchell nevertheless could 

have murdered Collazo. 

81. In the final version they settled upon, which was also entirely false, Defendants 

claimed that Fulton had managed to evade the security cameras at his apartment building by 

sneaking out through an unmonitored back door in the middle of the night, committed the murder 

with Mitchell and Shaw, and then snuck back in the same way before leaving for school in the 

morning.

82. Defendant Shepherd, an investigator for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s 

Office, fabricated evidence to support this new false story, and suppressed exculpatory evidence 

that would have disproved it. 

83. Defendant Shepherd went to Fulton’s apartment building and fabricated 

photographic evidence which he used to give the false appearance that no camera monitored the 

back door. 

84. In reality, Fulton’s apartment building had no unmonitored door that could be 

used to leave and return undetected. The building had a back door, but that door was monitored 

by a security camera. 

85. The security camera system—and an electronic fob system which tracked all 

entries to the building—meant that Fulton could not have left and returned to his apartment 

building without detection.

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86. Defendant Shepherd suppressed this vital piece of exculpatory evidence, which 

would have conclusively disproved all of the false evidence supposedly implicating Fulton and 

Mitchell in the Collazo murder.

87. This suppression of exculpatory evidence was part of a pattern of similar 

misconduct committed by investigators within the Cook County State’s Attorneys Office. For 

example, in another case in 2006, an investigator with the CCSAO was assigned to investigate 

charges against Jermaine Walker, which hinged on video surveillance of interactions between 

Walker and police. The investigator, using similar techniques of selective and misleading 

photography, fabricated false evidence to purportedly show that no such camera existed, while 

suppressing the true, exculpatory evidence—the existence of a camera—that corroborated 

Walker’s claims. When the investigator’s misconduct came to light ten years later, all charges 

against Walker were dismissed.

Defendants’ Misconduct Causes Plaintiffs To Be Convicted at Trial

88. In 2006, Plaintiff was tried for the Collazo murder, with Mitchell as a codefendant.

89. Before and during Plaintiff’s trial, Defendants suppressed a great deal of evidence 

that would have exculpated him from involvement in the Collazo murder. Defendants withheld 

this exculpatory evidence from the State’s Attorney’s Office, from Plaintiff, and from Plaintiff’s 

co-defendant Mitchell. 

90. Additionally, the prosecution did not present any inculpatory evidence at trial

other than the evidence fabricated by Defendants.

91. The prosecution presented Griffin’s fabricated narrative implicating Plaintiff and 

Mitchell in the Collazo murder.

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92. The prosecution presented Plaintiff’s false confession that had been coerced by 

Defendants, and the pre-polygraph confession that Defendants have invented out of thin air.

93. The sole theory of guilt relied on by the prosecution was that Plaintiff and 

Mitchell committed the Collazo murder together. All of the fabricated evidence the prosecution 

presented was in support of this joint action narrative.

94. A major component of Plaintiff’s defense at trial was his alibi. If this alibi was 

true, then it would prove that all of the prosecution’s fabricated evidence against Plaintiff was 

false.

95. The alibi was compelling, supported by video and other incontrovertible 

documentary evidence.

96. To combat this alibi defense, the prosecution relied on the fabricated photographic 

evidence from the back door of Plaintiff’s apartment building, which they used to falsely suggest 

to the jury that he could have snuck in and out the back door to commit the Collazo murder 

without being detected. This attack on Plaintiff’s alibi would not have been possible if 

Defendants had not created false inculpatory evidence and suppressed the exculpatory evidence 

of the true facts related to the backdoor security systems.

97. Based on the fabricated evidence and coerced confession and as a result of the 

suppressed exculpatory evidence, Plaintiff was convicted of the Collazo murder and sentenced to 

31 years in prison.

98. Without the Defendants’ misconduct, Plaintiff would never have been charged 

with, prosecuted for, or convicted of the Collazo murder.

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Plaintiff’s Exoneration

99. From the time Plaintiff was falsely charged with murder, he has consistently 

maintained his innocence of the Collazo murder. He continued to do so after his conviction, 

vigorously pursuing all available avenues of post-conviction relief.

100. In 2019, Cook County Judge Lawrence Flood vacated both Plaintiff’s and 

Mitchell’s convictions, based on new evidence of their innocence and in recognition that 

constitutional violations had tainted their trials. Prosecutors subsequently dropped all charges 

against them.

Policy and Practice of Impunity

101. At all times relevant to the prosecution of Plaintiff, the City of Chicago and the 

Chicago Police Department routinely failed to investigate cases in which Chicago Police 

detectives recommended charging an innocent person with a serious crime, and no Chicago 

Police officer has ever been disciplined as a result of his misconduct in any of those cases.

102. The City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department routinely failed 

to investigate cases in which Chicago Police detectives arrested an individual without 

probable cause.

103. Prior to and during the period in which Plaintiff was arrested, charged, and 

prosecuted for Christopher Collazo’s murder, the City of Chicago also operated a 

dysfunctional disciplinary system for Chicago Police officers accused of serious misconduct. 

The City almost never imposed significant discipline against police officers accused of 

violating the civil and constitutional rights of members of the public. The Chicago Police 

disciplinary apparatus included no mechanism for identifying police officers who were 

repeatedly accused of engaging in misconduct.

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104. The U.S. Department of Justice recently issued a report finding that there were 

“engrained deficiencies in the systems CPD uses to provide officers with supervision and 

training.” In particular, on the subject of training, the DOJ concluded that the “CPD’s 

inattention to training needs, including a longstanding failure to invest in the resources,

facilities, staffing, and planning required to train a department of approximately 12,000 

members, leaves officers underprepared to police effectively and lawfully. Officer errors and 

misconceptions that result from lack of training are not corrected in the field, because CPD 

has neither structured supervision in a way that will adequately support officers, nor invested 

in programs and systems that will detect when officers are in need of help or exhibiting 

behavior that must be corrected. Officers’ ability to stay safe, protect public safety, and police 

within constitutional standards suffers as a result.”

105. On the subject of supervision, the DOJ concluded among other things that 

“[i]nstead of encouraging the chain of command to instill proper policing tactics and respect 

for constitutional policing in CPD officers, CPD provides little incentive, or even opportunity, 

for supervisors to meaningfully guide and direct CPD officers. CPD provides even less 

incentive for supervisors to hold officers accountable when they deviate from CPD policy and 

the law. The City has long known that CPD’s direct supervision of officers is inadequate, 

including through the fact that multiple reports in the last two decades have highlighted 

deficiencies in CPD’s supervisory practices. Yet, City and CPD leadership have not made the 

necessary reforms to CPD’s supervision structure and processes, and community and officer 

safety suffer as a result.”

106. The DOJ “confirmed that CPD’s accountability systems are broadly 

ineffective at deterring or detecting misconduct, and at holding officers accountable when 

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they violate the law or CPD policy.” In particular, the Department of Justice found that the 

City failed to investigate nearly half of misconduct complaints; where investigations did 

occur, there were “consistent patterns of egregious investigative deficiencies”; and where 

misconduct complaints are sustained, discipline was inconsistent and unpredictable.

107. Similarly, the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force reported in April 

2016 that “[g]oing back years, and continuing to the present day, CPD has missed 

opportunities to make accountability an organizational priority.”

108. Between 2004 and 2016, the City paid more than $500 million to settle or pay 

judgments in police misconduct cases. Yet the City failed to conduct disciplinary 

investigations in more than half of the cases and recommended discipline in fewer than 4% of 

those cases.

109. Between 2011 and 2015, nearly half of complaints filed against Chicago 

Police officers were not even investigated. More than 95% of complaints against the 

Chicago Police that were investigated were found to be “unsustained.” And less than 2% of 

complaints against the Chicago Police resulted in any discipline.

110. As a matter of both policy and practice, municipal policy makers and 

department supervisors condoned and facilitated a code of silence within the Chicago Police 

Department.In accordance with this code, officers refused to report and otherwise lied about 

misconduct committed by their colleagues, including the misconduct at issue in this case.

111. The failure of police supervision and discipline in the City of Chicago during 

the relevant time period is a fact admitted by Chicago police officers and City policymakers.

In December 2016, the President of the police officers’ union for the City of Chicago 

admitted that there is a “code of silence” in the Chicago Police Department. In 2017, the U.S. 

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Department of Justice found that current officers of the CPD and former high-level officials 

of the CPD acknowledged a “code of silence.” And former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel 

also has acknowledged that a “code of silence” exists within the Chicago Police Department.

112. The code of silence in the Chicago Police Department is longstanding and has 

been documented for decades. In the case of Klipfel v. Bentsen, No. 94 C 6415 (N.D. Ill.), a 

federal jury found that as of 1994 the Chicago Police maintained a code of silence that 

facilitated police misconduct. In Obrycka v. City of Chicago, No. 07 C 2372 (N.D. Ill.), a 

different federal jury found that, as of February 2007, “the City had a widespread custom 

and/or practice of failing to investigate and/or discipline its officers and/or code of silence.”

113. As a result of the City of Chicago’s established practice of not tracking and 

identifying police officers who are repeatedly accused of the same kinds of serious 

misconduct, failing to investigate cases in which the police are implicated in a wrongful charge 

orconviction, failing to discipline officers accused of serious misconduct and facilitating a 

code of silence within the Chicago Police Department, officers, including the Police Officer 

Defendants, have come to believe that they may violate the civil rights of members of the 

public and cause innocent persons to be charged with serious crimes without fear of adverse 

consequences. As a result of these policies and practices of the City of Chicago, members of 

the Chicago Police Department act with impunity when they violate the constitutional and 

civil rights of citizens. 

114. The same code of silence and ineffective system of police oversight were in 

place when Plaintiff’s constitutional rights were violated beginning in March 2003. Defendant 

City of Chicago’s policy and practice of allowing police officers to violate the constitutional 

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rights of members of the public with impunity was a cause of the violations of Plaintiff’s 

constitutional rights alleged herein.

Policy and Practice of Convicting Innocent Persons in Violation of Due Process

115. The Chicago Police Department’s policies and widespread customs and 

practices have caused scores of miscarriages of justice, including those inflicted upon Plaintiff.

Since 1986, no fewer than 70 cases have come to light in which Chicago police officers 

fabricated false evidence and/or suppressed exculpatory evidence in order to cause the 

convictions of innocent person for serious crimes that they did not commit.

116. These cases include many in which Chicago Police Department officers used

the same tactics that the Police Officer Defendants employed against Plaintiff in this case, 

including: (1) fabricating witness statements; (2) concealing exculpatory evidence; (3) 

manipulating witnesses in order to influence their testimony; and (4) using other tactics to 

secure the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of a person without probable cause and without 

regard to the person’s actual guilt or innocence.

117. At all relevant times, members of the Chicago Police Department, including the 

Police Officer Defendants in this action, routinely manufactured evidence against innocent 

persons by threatening, pressuring, striking, manipulating, otherwise coercing, and offering 

inducements to suspects and witnesses to obtain false statements implicating innocent persons, 

knowing full well that those statements were false. As a matter of widespread practice and for 

the purpose of wrongfully convicting innocent persons, members of the Chicago Police 

Department, including the Police Officer Defendants in this action, contrived false witness 

narratives that were fed to vulnerable witnesses who then adopted those narratives as their 

own. Chicago Police Department officers also systematically suppressed exculpatory and/or 

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impeaching material by concealing evidence that a witness was coerced or induced to make 

false statements.

118. The municipal policy and practice described in the paragraphs above was

recently described in a Federal Bureau of Investigation FD-302 Report of an interview with 

Assistant State’s Attorney Terence Johnson. The Report documents, inter alia, that Chicago 

police detectives would feed information to witnesses and coach them through court-reported 

and handwritten statements, coerce witnesses into sticking to a detective’s theory of the case, 

physically abuse witnesses, and work together to develop and rehearse false narratives so there 

were no inconsistencies in the witnesses’ stories.

119. Consistent with the municipal policy and practice described in the 

preceding paragraph, employees of the City of Chicago, including the named Police 

Officer Defendants, fabricated reports and other evidence that was used to wrongfully 

prosecute Plaintiff.

120. At all times relevant hereto, members of the Chicago Police Department, 

including the Police Officer Defendants in this action, systematically suppressed exculpatory 

and/or impeaching material by intentionally secreting discoverable reports, memos and other 

information in files that were maintained solely at the police department and were not 

disclosed to the participants in the criminal justice system, including prosecutors and defense 

counsel. As a matter of widespread custom and practice, these clandestine files were withheld 

from the State’s Attorney’s Office and from criminal defendants, and they were routinely 

destroyed or hidden at the close of the investigation, rather than being maintained as part of the 

official file.

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121. Consistent with the municipal policy and practice described in the

preceding paragraph, employees of the City of Chicago, including the named Police 

Officer Defendants, intentionally concealed exculpatory evidence from Plaintiff.

122. Moreover, the municipal policy and practice described above caused the 

suppression of exculpatory evidence in this case, regardless of the subjective state of 

mind of the named Police Officer Defendants.

123. The existence of this policy and practice of suppressing exculpatory and/or 

impeaching material in clandestine files was established and corroborated in the cases of, inter 

alia, Rivera v. Guevara, No. 12 C 4428 (N.D. Ill.), Fields v. City of Chicago, No. 10 C 1168 

(N.D. Ill.), and Jones v. City of Chicago, No. 87 C 2536 (N.D. Ill.).

124. The policy and practice of suppressing exculpatory or impeaching material 

evidence was alive and well at the time of the investigation into Christopher Collazo’s murder, 

for which Plaintiff was wrongfully arrested and prosecuted.

125. The City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department also failed in the 

years prior to Plaintiff’s wrongful arrest and prosecution to provide adequate training to 

Chicago Police Detectives and other officers in any of the following areas, among others:

a. The constitutional requirement to disclose exculpatory evidence, including 

how to identify such evidence and what steps to take when exculpatory 

evidence has been identified in order to ensure that the evidence is made part 

of the criminal proceeding;

b. The need to refrain from physical and psychological abuse, and

manipulative and coercive conduct, in relation to suspects and witnesses;

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c. The risk of false confession and how to recognize when a false confession 

that has been elicited;

d. The risks of wrongful conviction and the steps police officers should take

to minimize risks;

e. The risks of engaging in tunnel vision during investigation; and

f. The need for full disclosure, candor, and openness on the part of all 

officers who participate in the police disciplinary process, both as 

witnesses and as accused officers, and the need to report misconduct 

committed by fellow officers.

126. The need for police officers to be trained in these areas was and remains obvious. 

The City’s failure to train Chicago police officers as alleged in the preceding paragraph caused 

Plaintiff’s wrongful conviction and injuries. 

127. The City’s failure to train, supervise, and discipline its officers condones, ratifies, 

and sanctions the kind of misconduct that Defendants committed against Plaintiffs. 

Constitutional violations such as those that occurred in this case are encouraged and facilitated as 

a result of the City’s practices and de facto polices described above.

128. The City of Chicago and final policymaking officials within the Chicago Police 

Department failed to remedy the patterns of abuse described in the preceding paragraphs, despite 

actual knowledge of the pattern of misconduct. They thereby perpetuated the unlawful practices 

and ensured that no action would be taken (independent of the judicial process) to remedy 

Plaintiffs’ ongoing injuries. 

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129. The policies and practices described in the foregoing paragraphs were also 

approved by the City of Chicago’s policymakers, who were deliberately indifferent to the 

violations of constitutional rights described herein.

Plaintiff’s Devastating Injuries

130. During his more than 16 years of wrongful imprisonment, Plaintiff was deprived 

of the ability to interact freely with his loved ones; to be present for holidays, births, deaths, and 

other life events; to pursue his passions and interests; to engage in meaningful labor and develop 

a career; and to live freely, as an autonomous being.

131. Instead, Plaintiff was detained in harsh, dangerous, and isolating conditions in 

maximum security prisons. He was branded a murderer.

132. Because of his wrongful imprisonment, Plaintiff was separated from his infant son 

and was unable to parent him and to participate in his growth and development. Plaintiff was 

also separated from the mother of his son, to whom he was engaged, and was thus deprived of 

companionship and the unique experiences of building a loving family together. Additionally, 

Plaintiff was deprived of the ability to spend any last precious moments with his grandfather, 

who raised Plaintiff as a father and who died while Plaintiff was incarcerated. Plaintiff was not 

allowed to attend his grandfather’s funeral.

133. As a result of his wrongful conviction and incarceration, Plaintiff must now 

attempt to rebuild his life outside of prison, all without the benefit of the life experiences that 

ordinarily equip adults for such a task.

134. In addition to causing the severe trauma of Plaintiff’s wrongful imprisonment and 

loss of liberty, Defendants’ misconduct caused and continues to cause Plaintiff extreme physical 

and psychological pain and suffering, humiliation, fear, anxiety, deep depression, despair, and 

other physical and psychological effects.

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COUNT I

42 U.S.C. § 1983 – False Confession (Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments)

135. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

136. In the manner described more fully above, the Police Officer Defendants and 

Defendants Judge and Rubinstein—acting as investigators and without probable cause to suspect 

Plaintiff of any crime, and acting individually, jointly, and/or in conspiracy with one another, as 

well as under color of law and within the scope of their employment—forced Plaintiff to make 

false statements involuntarily and against his will, which incriminated him and which were used 

against him in criminal proceedings, in violation of his rights secured by the Fifth and Fourteenth 

Amendments.

137. In addition, the Police Officer Defendants and Defendants Judge and 

Rubinstein—acting as investigators and without probable cause to suspect Plaintiff of any crime, 

and acting individually, jointly, and in conspiracy with one another, as well as under color of law 

and within the scope of their employment—used physical violence and extreme psychological 

coercion in order to force Plaintiff to incriminate himself falsely and against his will in a crime 

he had not committed, in violation of his right to due process secured by the Fourteenth 

Amendment. This misconduct was so severe as to shock the conscience, it was designed to injure 

Plaintiff, and it was not supported by any conceivable governmental interest.

138. In addition, the Police Officer Defendants and Defendants Judge and 

Rubinstein—acting as investigators and without probable cause to suspect Plaintiff of any crime, 

and acting individually, jointly, and in conspiracy with one another, and others unknown, as well 

as under color of law and within the scope of their employment—fabricated a false confession, 

which was attributed to Plaintiff and used against Plaintiff in his criminal proceedings, in 

violation of his right to a fair trial protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. 

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139. Specifically, and as described more fully above, the Police Officer Defendants

and Defendants Judge and Rubinstein conducted, participated in, encouraged, advised, and 

ordered an unconstitutional, multi-day interrogation of Plaintiff, using physical violence and 

psychological coercion, which overbore Plaintiff’s will and caused Plaintiff to make involuntary 

statements implicating himself in the murder of Christopher Collazo.

140. Those false incriminating statements were wholly fabricated by the Defendants 

and attributed to Plaintiff.

141. The false statements coerced by Defendants were used against Plaintiff to his 

detriment throughout his criminal case. These statements were the reason that Plaintiff was

prosecuted and convicted of the Collazo murder.

142. The misconduct described in this Count was objectively unreasonable and was 

undertaken intentionally, and in total disregard of the truth and Plaintiff’s clear innocence.

143. As a result of Defendants’ misconduct described in this Count, Plaintiff suffered 

loss of liberty, great mental anguish, humiliation, degradation, physical and emotional pain and 

suffering, and other grievous and continuing injuries and damages as set forth above.

144. The misconduct described in this Count by the Police Officer Defendants was 

undertaken pursuant to the police and practice of the Chicago Police Department, in the manner 

more fully described below in Count VIII.

COUNT II

42 U.S.C. § 1983 – Fabrication of False Witness Statements (Fourteenth Amendment)

145. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

146. In the manner described more fully above, the Police Officer Defendants and the 

Prosecutor Defendants—acting as investigators and without probable cause to suspect Plaintiff 

of any crime, and acting individually, jointly, and in conspiracy with one another, and others 

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unknown, as well as under color of law and within the scope of their employment—deprived 

Plaintiff of his constitutional right to a fair trial and due process by fabricating witness 

statements implicating Plaintiff in crimes he did not commit, which Defendants knew to be false, 

and by suppressing their own misconduct and the circumstances in which these witness 

statements were obtained.

147. Specifically, as described in detail above, Defendants used physical violence and 

psychological abuse to obtain false witness statements from Griffin, Mitchell, Shaw, and other 

witnesses implicating Plaintiff in the Collazo murder.

148. The misconduct described in this Count was objectively unreasonable, and was 

undertaken and effected intentionally, and in total disregard of the truth and Plaintiff’s clear 

innocence.

149. As a result of Defendants’ misconduct described in this Count, Plaintiff suffered 

loss of liberty, great mental anguish, humiliation, degradation, physical and emotional pain and 

suffering, and other grievous and continuing injuries and damages as set forth above.

150. The misconduct described in this Count by the Police Officer Defendants was 

undertaken pursuant to the police and practice of the Chicago Police Department, in the manner 

more fully described below in Count VIII.

COUNT III

42 U.S.C. § 1983 –Deprivation of Liberty without Probable Cause (Fourth and Fourteenth 

Amendments)

151. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

152. In the manner described above, the Police Officer Defendants and Defendant 

Shepherd, individually, jointly, and in conspiracy with one another, and others unknown, as well 

as under color of law and within the scope of their employment, used false evidence that they 

had manufactured in order to accuse Plaintiff of criminal activity and cause the initiation, 

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continuation, and perpetuation of judicial proceedings against Plaintiff without any probable 

cause for doing so and in spite of the fact that they knew Plaintiff was innocent.

153. In so doing, these Defendants caused Plaintiff to be deprived of his liberty without 

probable cause and subjected improperly to judicial proceedings for which there was no probable 

cause, in violation of his rights secured by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. 

154. These Defendants instituted and continued these judicial proceedings against 

Plaintiff maliciously, resulting in injury.

155. The judicial proceedings against Plaintiff were terminated in his favor when the 

Cook County State’s Attorney dismissed all charges against him.

156. The misconduct described in this Count was objectively unreasonable and was 

undertaken intentionally, and with malice, and in total disregard of the truth and Plaintiff’s clear 

innocence.

157. As a result of Defendants’ misconduct described in this Count, Plaintiff suffered 

loss of liberty, great mental anguish, humiliation, degradation, physical and emotional pain and 

suffering, and other grievous and continuing injuries and damages as set forth above.

158. The misconduct described in this Count by the Police Officer Defendants was 

undertaken pursuant to the police and practice of the Chicago Police Department, in the manner 

more fully described below in Count VIII.

COUNT IV

42 U.S.C. § 1983 – Due Process, Wrongful Conviction & Illegal Confinement (Fourteenth 

Amendment) 

159. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

160. As described in detail above, the Police Officer Defendants and Defendant 

Shepherd—while acting individually, jointly, and/or in conspiracy with one another, and others

unknown, as well as under color of law and within the scope of their employment—deprived 

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Plaintiff of his constitutional right to a fair trial, his right not to be wrongfully convicted, and 

his right to be free of involuntary confinement.

161. In the manner described more fully above, the Police Officer Defendants and 

Defendant Shepherd deliberately withheld exculpatory evidence from Plaintiff and from state 

prosecutors (including the Prosecutor Defendants), among others, thereby misleading and 

misdirecting the criminal prosecution of Plaintiff.

162. The Police Officer Defendants and Defendant Shepherd also fabricated and 

manufactured evidence and solicited false evidence—including fabricated witness statements, 

and witness testimony that they knew to be false and perjured—fabricated police reports falsely 

implicating Plaintiff in the crime, obtained Plaintiff’s conviction using that false evidence, and 

failed to correct fabricated evidence that they knew to be false when it was used against 

Plaintiff during his criminal case.

163. The Police Officer Defendants also destroyed physical evidence that, if 

subjected to forensic testing, would have demonstrated Plaintiff’s innocence. Defendants 

destroyed this physical evidence knowing that it had exculpatory value. In the alternative, 

Defendants destroyed this potentially exculpatory evidence in bad faith.

164. In addition, based upon information and belief, the Police Officer Defendants 

concealed, fabricated, and destroyed additional evidence that is not yet known to Plaintiff.

165. The Police Officer Defendants’ and Defendant Shepherd’s misconduct 

directly resulted in the unjust and wrongful criminal prosecution and conviction of Plaintiff 

and the deprivation of Plaintiff’s liberty, thereby denying his constitutional right to a fair trial 

guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Absent this misconduct, the prosecution of Plaintiff 

could not have and would not have been pursued.

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166. The misconduct described in this Count was objectively unreasonable, was 

undertaken intentionally, and in total disregard of the truth and Plaintiff’s clear innocence.

167. As a result of Defendants’ misconduct described in this Count, Plaintiff

suffered loss of liberty, great mental anguish, humiliation, degradation, physical and emotional 

pain and suffering, and other grievous and continuing injuries and damages as set forth above.

168. The misconduct described in this Count by the Police Officer Defendants was 

undertaken pursuant to the police and practice of the Chicago Police Department, in the 

manner more fully described below in Count VIII.

COUNT V

42 U.S.C. § 1983 – Involuntary Servitude (Thirteenth Amendment)

169. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated

here.

170. In the manner described above, Police Officer Defendants’ and Defendant 

Shepherd’s misconduct deprived Plaintiff of due process and denied him a fair trial. Plaintiff

thus was not duly convicted of the crimes with which he was charged.

171. Because Plaintiff was not duly convicted, his labor while he was incarcerated 

constituted involuntary servitude in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment.

172. The misconduct described in this Count by the Police Officer Defendants was 

undertaken pursuant to the police and practice of the Chicago Police Department, in the 

manner more fully described below in Count VIII.

COUNT VI

42 U.S.C. § 1983 – Failure to Intervene

173. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

174. In the manner described above, during the constitutional violations described 

herein, one or more of the Police Officer Defendants, the Prosecutor Defendants and Defendant 

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Shepherd stood by without intervening to prevent the violation of Plaintiff’s constitutional rights, 

even though they had the duty and the opportunity to do so.

175. As a result of the Defendants’ failure to intervene to prevent the violation of 

Plaintiff’s constitutional rights, Plaintiff suffered pain and injury, as well as emotional distress.

These Defendants had ample, reasonable opportunities as well as the duty to prevent this harm 

but failed to do so.

176. The misconduct described in this Count was objectively unreasonable, was 

undertaken and committed intentionally.

177. As a result of Defendants’ misconduct described in this Count, Plaintiff suffered 

loss of liberty, great mental anguish, humiliation, degradation, physical and emotional pain and 

suffering, and other grievous and continuing injuries and damages as set forth above.

178. The misconduct described in this Count by the Police Officer Defendants was 

undertaken pursuant to the police and practice of the Chicago Police Department, in the manner 

more fully described below in Count VIII.

COUNT VII

42 U.S.C. § 1983 – Conspiracy to Deprive Constitutional Rights

179. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

180. As described more fully in the preceding paragraphs, the Police Officer Defendants

and Defendant Shepherd, acting in concert with other co-conspirators, known and unknown, 

reached an agreement among themselves to frame Plaintiff for a crime he did not commit and 

conspired by concerted action to accomplish an unlawful purpose by unlawful means. In addition, 

these co-conspirators agreed among themselves to protect one another from liability for depriving 

Plaintiff of these rights.

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181. In furtherance of their conspiracy, each of these co-conspirators committed overt 

acts and were otherwise willful participants in joint activity.

182. The misconduct described in this Count was objectively unreasonable, was 

undertaken intentionally, and in total disregard of the truth and Plaintiff’s clear innocence.

183. As a result of the Defendants’ misconduct described in this Count, Plaintiff suffered 

loss of liberty, great mental anguish, humiliation, degradation, physical and emotional pain and 

suffering, and other grievous and continuing injuries and damages as set forth above.

184. The misconduct described in this Count by the Police Officer Defendants was 

undertaken pursuant to the police and practice of the Chicago Police Department, in the manner 

more fully described below in Count VIII.

COUNT VIII

42 U.S.C. § 1983 – Policy, Practice & Custom Claim Against the City of Chicago

185. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

186. As described in detail above, the City of Chicago is liable for the violation of 

Plaintiff’s constitutional rights because Plaintiff’s injuries were caused by the policies, practices, 

and customs of the City of Chicago, as well as by the actions of policy-making officials for the 

City of Chicago.

187. At all times relevant to the events described in this Complaint and for a period of 

time prior and subsequent thereto, the City of Chicago failed to promulgate proper or adequate 

rules, regulations, policies, and procedures for: the conduct of interrogations and questioning of 

criminal suspects; the collection, documentation, preservation, testing, and disclosure of 

evidence; the writing of police reports and taking of investigative notes; obtaining statements and 

testimony from witnesses; and maintenance of investigative files and disclosure of those files in 

criminal proceedings. In addition, or alternatively, the City of Chicago failed to promulgate 

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proper and adequate rules, regulations, policies, and procedures for the training and supervision 

of officers and agents of the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago, with respect to 

these subjects.

188. These failures to promulgate proper or adequate rules, regulations, policies, and 

procedures were committed by officers and agents of the Chicago Police Department and the 

City of Chicago, including the Defendants.

189. In addition, at all times relevant to the events described in this Complaint and for 

a period of time prior thereto, the City of Chicago had notice of a widespread practice and 

custom by officers and agents of the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago under 

which individuals suspected of criminal activity, such as Plaintiff, were routinely deprived of 

their right to due process. For instance, it was common that suspects were prosecuted based on 

fabricated evidence.

190. Specifically, at all times relevant to the events described in this Complaint and for 

a period of time prior thereto, the City of Chicago had notice of widespread practices by officers 

and agents of the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago, which included one or 

more of the following: (1) officers did not record investigative information in police reports, did 

not maintain proper investigative files, or did not disclose investigative materials to prosecutors 

and criminal defendants; (2) officers falsified statements and testimony of witnesses; (3) officers 

fabricated false evidence implicating criminal defendants in criminal conduct; (4) officers failed 

to maintain or preserve evidence or destroyed evidence; (5) officers coerced involuntary 

confessions, and (6) officers pursued wrongful convictions through profoundly flawed 

investigations.

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191. These widespread practices, individually and together, were allowed to flourish 

because the leaders, supervisors, and policymakers of the City of Chicago directly encouraged 

and were thereby the moving force behind the very type of misconduct at issue by failing to 

adequately train, supervise, and control their officers, agents, and employees on proper 

interrogation techniques and by failing to adequately punish and discipline prior instances of 

similar misconduct, thus directly encouraging future abuses such as those affecting Plaintiffs.

192. The above widespread practices and customs, so well settled as to constitute de 

facto policies of the City of Chicago, were able to exist and thrive, individually and together, 

because policymakers with authority over the same exhibited deliberate indifference to the 

problem, thereby effectively ratifying it.

193. As a result of the policies and practices of the City of Chicago, numerous 

individuals have been wrongfully convicted of crimes that they did not commit.

194. In addition, the misconduct described in this Count was undertaken pursuant to 

the policies and practices of the City of Chicago in that the constitutional violations committed 

against Plaintiff were committed with the knowledge or approval of persons with final 

policymaking authority for the City of Chicago or were actually committed by persons with such 

final policymaking authority.

195. Plaintiff’s injuries were directly and proximately caused by officers, agents, and 

employees of the City of Chicago, including but not limited to the individually named 

Defendants, who acted pursuant to one or more of the policies, practices, and customs set forth 

above in engaging in the misconduct described in this Count.

COUNT IX

State Law Claim – Malicious Prosecution

196. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

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197. In the manner described above, the Police Officer Defendants and Defendant 

Shepherd, individually, jointly, and/or in conspiracy with one another, and others unknown,

as well as within the scope of their employment, accused Plaintiff of criminal activity and 

exerted influence to initiate and to continue and perpetuate judicial proceedings against 

Plaintiff without any probable cause for doing so and in spite of the fact that they knew 

Plaintiff was innocent.

198. In so doing, the Defendants caused Plaintiff to be subjected improperly to 

judicial proceedings for which there was no probable cause. These judicial proceedings were 

instituted and continued maliciously, resulting in injury.

199. The judicial proceedings against Plaintiff were terminated in his favor when 

the Cook County State’s Attorney dismissed all charges against him.

200. The misconduct described in this Count was objectively unreasonable and 

was undertaken intentionally, with malice, and in total disregard of the truth and Plaintiff’s

clear innocence.

201. As a result of the Defendants’ misconduct described in this Count, Plaintiff 

suffered loss of liberty, great mental anguish, humiliation, degradation, physical and 

emotional pain and suffering, and other grievous and continuing injuries and damages as set 

forth above.

COUNT X

State Law Claim – Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

202. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

203. The actions, omissions, and conduct of the Police Officer Defendants, the 

Prosecutor Defendants, and Defendant Shepherd as set forth above were extreme and 

outrageous. These actions were rooted in an abuse of power and authority and were undertaken 

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with the intent to cause, or were in reckless disregard of the probability that their conduct 

would cause, severe emotional distress to Plaintiffs, as is more fully alleged above.

204. As a direct and proximate result of the Defendants’ actions, Plaintiff suffered 

and continues to suffer emotional distress and other grievous and continuing injuries and 

damages as set forth above.

COUNT XI

State Law Claim – Civil Conspiracy

205. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

206. As described more fully in the preceding paragraphs, the Police Officer

Defendants and Defendant Shepherd, acting in concert with other co-conspirators, known and 

unknown, reached an agreement among themselves to frame Plaintiff for a crime he did not 

commit and conspired by concerted action to accomplish an unlawful purpose and/or to 

achieve a lawful purpose by unlawful means. In addition, these co-conspirators agreed among 

themselves to protect one another from liability for depriving Plaintiff of these rights.

207. In furtherance of their conspiracy, each of these co-conspirators committed

overt acts and were otherwise willful participants in joint activity.

208. The violations of Illinois law described in this complaint, including 

Defendants’ malicious prosecution of Plaintiff and their intentional infliction of emotional 

distress, were accomplished by Defendants’ conspiracy.

209. The misconduct described in this Count was objectively unreasonable, 

was undertaken intentionally, and in total disregard of the truth and Plaintiff’s clear

innocence.

210. As a result of the Defendants’ misconduct described in this Count, Plaintiff 

suffered loss of liberty, great mental anguish, humiliation, degradation, physical and 

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emotional pain and suffering, and other grievous and continuing injuries and damages as set 

forth above.

COUNT XII

State Law Claim – Respondeat Superior

211. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

212. While committing the misconduct alleged in the preceding paragraphs, the 

Police Officer Defendants were employees, members, and agents of the City of Chicago, 

acting at all relevant times within the scope of their employment.

213. Defendant City of Chicago is liable as principal for all torts committed by its

agents.

COUNT XIII

State Law Claim – Indemnification

214. Plaintiff incorporates each paragraph of this Complaint as if fully restated here.

215. Illinois law provides that public entities are directed to pay any tort judgment 

for compensatory damages for which employees are liable within the scope of their 

employment activities.

216. The Police Officer Defendants are or were employees and agents of the City 

of Chicago, acting at all relevant times within the scope of their employment in committing 

the misconduct described herein.

217. Defendant City of Chicago is responsible to pay any judgment entered against 

the Police Officer Defendants. Plaintiff therefore demands judgment against Defendant City of 

Chicago, in the amounts awarded to Plaintiff against the Police Officer Defendants as 

compensatory damages, attorneys’ fees, costs and interest.

218. Defendant Cook County is responsible to pay any judgment against the 

Prosecutor Defendants and Defendant Shepherd. Plaintiff therefore demands judgment against 

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Defendant Cook County, in the amounts awarded to Plaintiff against the Prosecutor Defendants 

and Defendant Shepherd as compensatory damages, attorneys’ fees, costs and interest.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff JOHN FULTON respectfully requests that this Court enter a judgment 

in his favor and against Defendants ROBERT BARTIK, JOHN ZALATORIS, JAMES BREEN, 

LEONARD ROLSTON, EDWARD WINSTEAD, JOSEPH STRUCK, ROBERT GIRARDI, 

RICHARD CERVENKA, MICHAEL KENNEDY, MICHAEL SCHMITZ, BRIAN SKORA, 

INV. S. FRANCO (#40141), DETECTIVE AGUIRRE, UNKNOWN CHICAGO POLICE 

OFFICERS, MCRAY JUDGE, JACOB RUBINSTEIN, ANDREW VARGA, EUGENE 

SHEPHERD, COOK COUNTY, and the CITY OF CHICAGO, awarding compensatory 

damages, attorneys’ fees and costs against each Defendant, and, because they acted willfully, 

wantonly, and/or maliciously, punitive damages against each of the individual Defendants, and 

any other relief this Court deems just and appropriate.

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JURY DEMAND

Plaintiff JOHN FULTON hereby demands a trial by jury pursuant to Federal Rule of 

Civil Procedure 38(b) on all issues so triable.

Respectfully submitted,

BY: /s/ Julia Rickert

One of Plaintiff’s Attorneys

Arthur Loevy

Jon Loevy

Russell Ainsworth

Julia Rickert

Sam Heppell

LOEVY & LOEVY

311 N. Aberdeen Street

Chicago, IL 60607

T: 312-243-5900

F: 312-243-5902

julia@loevy.com

Andrea D. Lyon 

LYON LAW

53 W. Jackson Blvd., Ste. 1650 

Chicago, IL 60604 

T: 312-877-5543

F: 312-663-3707

andrea@andrealyon.com

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