...
> From the Chicago Tribune--
> Jury awards $15.5 million to Kevin Fox and his wife
> By Hal Dardick | Tribune staff reporter
> 2:30 PM CST, December 20, 2007
> A federal jury today awarded $15.5 million to Kevin Fox and his wife
> after concluding that Will County sheriff's detectives violated his
> civil rights by fabricating evidence in the 2004 slaying of his
> 3-year-old daughter, Riley.
> Jurors determined Sgt. Edward Hayes, three deputies assigned as
> detectives to the case, the estate of a fifth and the county were
> liable for trying to railroad Fox.
> Even though the jury found for the Foxes, they rejected the most
> serious allegation, that the detectives had conspired.
> Kevin and his wife, Melissa, both shed tears and hugged their
> attorney, Kathleen Zellner. Zellner said she believes the award is the
> largest in Illinois for a wrongful arrest case.
> The verdict came at the end of a nearly seven-week trial in Chicago
> that featured dozens of witnesses and focused heavily on the DNA
> evidence that freed Fox from jail eight months after he was charged
> with sexual assault and murder in Riley's death.
> During the trial, Fox testified that some people still suspect he was
> involved in the slaying, and his wife testified that they had to move
> from their hometown of Wilmington because of those suspicions. Fox, a
> 30-year-old union painter, said he hoped the suit would restore his
> reputation and refocus attention on the investigation to find Riley's
> killer.
> The Foxes filed suit against Will County authorities two weeks after
> his arrest, alleging detectives and others involved in the case
> conspired to fabricate evidence and coerce an incriminating statement
> from him.
> Former State's Atty. Jeff Tomczak, who was seeking the death penalty
> against Fox, was dismissed as a defendant before the trial started. A
> polygraph examiner, a forensic interviewer and one detective were
> dismissed during the sixth week of trial.
> The reasons that Tomczak and the other defendants were dismissed
> remains under court seal at the order of U.S. District Judge John
> Darrah. Zellner, the Foxes' attorney, would only say the claims
> against the dismissed defendants were "resolved."
> Those held liable by the jury all took part, to varying degrees, in
> the 14-hour overnight interrogation of Fox on Oct. 26-27, 2004.
> During closing arguments Monday, dozens of Fox supporters and other
> observers packed the courtroom, with overflow spectators standing in
> the hallway.
> The Fox supporters wore black-and-white lapel ribbons studded with
> three pink crystals. The ribbons represented justice for Fox, and the
> crystals were for Riley, whose favorite color was pink, family members
> said.
> Fox reported Riley missing about 8:30 a.m. June 6, 2004.
> About seven hours later, her half-naked body was found in Forked
> Creek, nearly 4 miles from the family's home. She had been sexually
> assaulted, and an autopsy determined that the little girl who feared
> water had drowned.
> At the end of the overnight interrogation, Fox told police he
> accidentally hurt Riley when he opened a bathroom door in the middle
> of the night. He said he thought she was dead and tried to make the
> accident look like an abduction, sexual assault and murder.
> That was in keeping with a theory Deputy Scott Swearengen, the lead
> detective in the case, came up with the day Riley was killed. It also
> squared with what detectives told Melissa Fox the night of the
> interrogation--hours before her husband made his statement, she said.
> In June 2005, testing paid for and arranged and paid for by Fox's
> legal team determined DNA from Riley's rape kit did not match Fox's
> genetic profile. State's Atty. James Glasgow, who inherited the case
> and approved the testing, then freed Fox from jail.
> Within days of being jailed, Fox issued a news press release that
> accused detectives of coercing his statement by denying his request
> for a lawyer, wrongly telling him he failed a polygraph test,
> misrepresenting evidence, showing him a photograph of his dead
> daughter and threatening him with daily rape in jail unless he
> admitted accidentally killing Riley. He said they also promised him
> leniency if he made that admission.
> Fox described that alleged ordeal during his testimony, and some
> jurors shed tears when he described his lonely days in jail, during
> which he contemplated but rejected suicide, according to a diary he
> kept.
> Zellner said in closing arguments that detectives knew Fox was
> innocent when they allegedly coerced the statement from him. She noted
> FBI records indicate Hayes ordered a stop to DNA testing one week
> after Fox's arrest.
> "These defendants were willing to fabricate evidence to convict and
> execute an innocent man," she said, asking the jury to award $44
> million in damages to the Foxes.
> Hayes, however, testified he ordered a stop to some DNA testing in the
> case, but not a halt to DNA testing of Riley's rape kit. Initial
> testing on the kit by the Illinois State Police crime lab and the FBI
> indicated there was no semen or blood, so Hayes thought there would be
> no DNA, he testified. The discovered DNA likely was from saliva, an
> expert testified.
> During the trial, jurors and the public also learned further DNA
> testing was done this year as part of the ongoing investigation into
> the still-unsolved crime.
> Those tests determined DNA on the duct tape that covered Riley's mouth
> also excluded Fox. The DNA on the tape matched that from Riley's rape
> kit.
> Zellner accused Deputy Michael Guilfoyle of falsely stating that
> Riley's older brother Tyler, who was 6 when his sister was killed,
> told him his father left the house during the early morning hours on
> the day Riley was killed. Guilfoyle said he would never lie about such
> a thing.
> Defense attorney Robert Smith noted that Fox said he went out to smoke
> a cigarette that morning, which he said could explain Tyler's
> statement, as described by Guilfoyle.
> Smith argued it was unfair to focus on DNA evidence returned in June
> 2005 and this year, and he noted that detectives drove 1,000 miles to
> Quantico, Va., to deliver the rape kit and other evidence for further
> testing by the FBI.
> Smith argued that detectives in October 2004 had probable cause to
> arrest Fox. Detectives did not fabricate evidence, and Fox made his
> statement voluntarily, he said.
> "Why would someone admit, give statements against themselves, for
> something they did not do?" Smith asked the jury. "Why? I don't know,
> other than I know it happens."
> Tribune reporter Deanese Williams-Harris contributed to this story.
> hdardick @tribune.com
> Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-fox21_webdec21,0,3217178...
> --
> Anne, indigoace at goodsol period com
> Jewelry: http://www.prettygoodjewelry.com
> Cats: http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
Fabulous. This is great news. I will never understand why/how LE allowed all
that time to pass and Fox et al to pay for the DNA tests which excluded him.
simply 'misguided'. Have you seen any news footage of the Fox family after
