CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A Chicago man has had his wrongful conviction for a 1994 double murder officially overturned after nearly 30 years behind bars.
“It feels good, but at the same time it’s questionable,” David Wright told media gathered at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Wednesday.
Wright spoke after being officially exonerated in the deaths of his friends Tyrone Rockett and Robert Smith following allegations of Chicago police misconduct. Wright was 17 when he was arrested.
“For the last 30 years … two families mad that I did something that I didn’t, so how do you change that?” Wright said. “You’re not going to change the bill that you’ve run. They’re families are going to walk around for the rest of their lives thinking I killed their loved ones.”
There was applause in the seventh floor courtroom when the charges were dismissed. Judge Carol Howard ordered supporters to be quiet.
“I’m going to try to get my life back on course,” Wright said. “I’m going to try to live the best that I can.”
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Wright was arrested on Aug. 23, 1994, about six months after the murders. Chicago police detectives claimed they had learned he was the gunman, though there were no witnesses who identified him and no physical evidence linking him to the murders, his attorneys at the Exoneration Project said.
Wright was convicted on the sole basis of a confession he signed after a 14-hour interrogation during which he was abused and coerced by detectives, according to attorney David Owens.
Detectives told Wright his older brother was also a suspect and would likely get the death penalty because he was an adult — unless Wright confessed, Owens said.
Wright’s lawyers have argued that the detectives who interrogated Wright had a pattern of obtaining false confessions. At least 25 convictions tied to their investigations have been overturned, according to the Exoneration Project’s records.
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“People, families are dying, man. People are dying in here,” Wright said. “You mean to tell me they’re going to sit in jail another 30 years on the credibility of dirty police?”
The police officers accused of torturing Wright into a confession should be prosecuted, Owens said.
“The State of Illinois, on behalf of the people of Illinois, is still bringing these same police officers to this building to testify in support of convictions,” he said.
Owens said systemic change would be impossible until officials “admit what happened.”
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(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)
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