SURVIVOR STORIES
Lester Owens
IDOC Number: M15174 Case Number: 07CR2250301
Lester Owens is currently serving a 24-year sentence for two charges of aggravated battery with a firearm for a 2007 shooting in the Woodlawn neighborhood. Lester continues to fight for his innocence, as false and coerced testimonies are the only evidence that convicted him.
On the night of July 13th, 2007, Lester Owens was recording music with his manager and producer at the Head Knockaz Studio on 35th and Paulina when a shooting occurred at 7321 S. Greenwood.
Two people were shot: Willis Overstreet and Shanice Thompson. Allegedly, around 10 p.m. a gold SUV pulled up, and four masked individuals wearing all black jumped out and started shooting at Michael Ellis, his brother Stevo Ellis, Joel Jones, Joel’s brothers Vergie and Johnny Jones, and Joe’s cousin Jovan. Outside at that time were Joel’s father, John Jones and his father’s friends Husk and Shanice. Because the group immediately ran away from the gunfire, Joel did not have time to see the face of any of the shooters. When he returned to the scene to check on his family right after the shooting, he was handcuffed and made to lay on the ground before being put in the back of a squad car by Sergeant Brian Forberg, Detective Kevin Eberle and Officer Poblador. While no one there claimed to have seen the shooters, the officers insisted the witnesses knew and were hiding it.
Despite no witnesses to the shooters’ identities coming forward initially, Sergeant Brian Forberg and Detective Kevin Eberle continued their investigation in the weeks and years after the shooting. Michael testified in his 2021 affidavit that the two were investigating around the neighborhood every day and asserted to Joel that Johnny, Javon and Michael knew that the shooter was Lester Owens. Both Joel and Javon had told Bryant Larkin that they didn’t think Lester did it. Joel and Javon even celebrated Lester’s birthday with him two years later, on August 17th, 2009. Joel, Javon and Michael testified in affidavits that Forberg and Eberle pressured them to be witnesses or they would pin drug charges on them.
Though Joel repeatedly told Forberg and Eberle that he did not see the shooter’s face, they falsely stated that they had incriminating DNA evidence and knew what happened and what Joel saw. Forberg and Eberle repeatedly visited 35th and Paulina and threatened to arrest people hanging out in the area if they did not help identify Lester as the shooter.
Michael and Johnny saw Forberg and Eberle every day for months after the crime. Eventually, Johnny convinced Michael that they should talk to the police to make the drug charges pinned on them go away. Michael testified that Forberg asked him to identify the shooter, saying “We need you to say it was Lil Les (Lester)” and “It’s open season on you guys right now” but that they could tell their third police district to be easy on them.
Forberg told Michael what he thought happened: One of the shooters adjusted his mask, exposing an eye patch that the victims, Michael and Johnny saw; Lester is known for the eye patch he wears that covers his missing left eye. Forberg then told Michael, “Just say yes.” Michael insisted that Forberg emphasized that he only wanted Lester. Michael claims he only testified against Lester because there was a warrant for his arrest if he didn’t show up.
In the days and weeks following the shooting, Forberg and Eberle coerced the same witnesses who initially couldn't identify the shooters, into saying that they saw Lester Owens take his mask off as he was fleeing the crime scene. When it was time for Lester to start trial, those same witnesses refused to appear in court to testify and only appeared in court after warrants were issued for their arrest. Officer Poblador, who chased the offenders on the night the shooting took place, even testified at Lester’s trial that “he never saw any of the offenders take their mask off and that the offenders were so covered up he couldn't even tell what race they were." The witnesses who testified that they saw Lester take his mask off have since stated in the referenced affidavits that they never saw Lester and only said they did because Forberg and Eberle threatened to put drug cases on them and put them in jail if they didn't.
It was not until 2010 that Lester would be convicted of the charges for shooting Michael and Shanice. At the court date, Bryant was told by Lester’s defense that it was not necessary for him to testify despite the urging from Lester, his connection to the victims and his witnessing the aftermath of the shooting from his home on 7315 S. Greenwood. In addition to Michael and Johnny, Joel testified at Lester’s trial, where he said that he also recognized Lester as the shooter when he lifted his mask, seeing his missing eye. Though Joel later told private investigator, Michael Maddox, that he did not see the face of the shooter and only testified because he did not want a bogus charge pinned on him. Lester was 17 years old when he was wrongfully charged with 2 aggravated batteries with a firearm and was sentenced to 24 years at 85%. Judge Timothy Joyce, who decided the bench trial, was supposed to give Lester one count but decided on two because of pending cases that had been pinned on him and because “he took the court system as a joke.”
Jerome Garret identified himself, Rashad Wilson, Stephan Carson and a friend named Paris as the shooters that night in a later 2016 affidavit. Jerome admitted that Lester was not there that night in the car or at the shooting, but he was afraid to come forward on Lester’s behalf because he feared admitting his presence and involvement in the shooting.
Lester’s distinguishing eye-patch made him an easy link to a crime with no witnesses, despite his alibi as to being elsewhere recording hip hop music is affirmed by his manager and producer, who were with him at that time. Lester has now served 13 years for a crime he didn’t commit. He has endured cruel treatment while incarcerated across the state. Chief Judge Sara Darrow did a thorough search and granted special prosecutors in all the cases involved with Forberg and Eberle. Lester fights for his freedom with the help of loved-one Jasmine Smith and attorney Geneva Penson. Lester and others who have experienced similar treatment from Sergeant Brian Forberg and Detective Kevin Eberle are currently appealing their convictions. Jasmine and Geneva have found out that Forberg and Eberle are married to members of the State’s Attorney's Office, revealing that the collusion in these cases extends to the wider court system in Illinois.