SURVIVOR STORIES

ANTOINE ANDERSON

Antoine Anderson was arrested on November 13, 1998 in connection with the fatal shooting of Leroy Causey that evening. He was 17, 9 months shy of being 18 years old. His co-defendant, Lamontreal Glinsey, had reached his 18th birthday 17 days earlier.

A week earlier, Harry Hudson had been shot and killed by a rifle shot as he walked across a vacant lot near 38th and Langley, on the South Side of Chicago. Causey had been shot and killed as he sat in the driver’s seat of his car, a block from where Hudson had been killed.

Both Anderson and Glinsey testified in court that they were beaten and threatened by Chicago Police Officers John Murray, James O’Brien, and John Halloran. Anderson said that they threatened to take his two children away from him and jail his partner, Iesha Bridewell as an accessory.

All three detectives have an established record of many cases of torture and false confessions. Both Glinsey and Anderson “confessed” to the murder of Causey. They also “confessed” to the murder of Hudson.

One of the chief witnesses against them, Casanova Johnson, was 12 years old at the time of the murder. He has since recanted his testimony that he was with Anderson and Glinsey and saw them shoot Causey and Hudson. In an affidavit sworn on March 7, 2007 he said he wasn’t present at all when the shootings occurred and that the police had pressured him to say he saw Anderson and Glinsey do it.

The Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC) separately reviewed claims by both men and concluded that there was insufficient credible evidence of torture, largely due to inconsistencies in their statements at various times. On an appeal by Glinsey prior to the TIRC decision the Appellate Court held that the sworn recantation of Johnson was not evidence of Glinsey’s innocence because Johnson stated that he was not present at the murders and saw nothing, and therefore could not say Anderson and Glinsey were not involved.

Unraveling the facts of this case is difficult. What emerges is a process of police violence and short cuts, perjury, and conflicting testimony.

What seems clear is that Hudson and Causey were killed in gang-related shootings. Anderson and Glinsey were both members of the Gangster Disciples (GDs), as was the 12-year-old Johnson. Hudson was a member of a rival gang, the Black Disciples (BDs). Causey, a letter carrier known to many people in the neighborhood, appears to have been targeted by mistake.

Johnson gave testimony he later recanted in his sworn affidavit. He swore he was under duress from the police when he said that he was with Anderson and Glinsey when they saw a car with tinted windows stop the evening of November 13 near their house, which he said they thought belonged to someone identified as the “Little Rascal.” He testified that they approached the driver’s side of the car, Anderson carrying a handgun and Glinsey carrying a rifle. They could not clearly see who was driving because it was dark. He said Anderson shot the driver. It turned out to be Causey, not the “Little Rascal.”

Johnson had also testified in Anderson’s trial that he had been with the pair when they shot Hudson from a long range. In his affidavit he swore that both were stories the police had forced him to say.

Iesha Bridewell, mother of Anderson’s two children, testified at Glinsey’s trial that the GDs and the BDs were engaged in a struggle at the time of the killings. She said that Anderson had told her that the BDs had shot his brother and he was going to get even. She did not say that she witnessed the shooting, however.

Anderson insists that Bridewell’s testimony was perjured. Anderson testified that police told him that if he did not confess, he would lose his children and Bridewell would be jailed as an accomplice.

Iesha Bridewell’s brother, Clemmie Bridewell, testified that he saw three men approach the driver’s side of Causey’s car and shoot him. He testified that the police threatened him and forced him to say that Glinsey and Anderson had approached the car instead. He said that Anderson was not the shooter.

All of the evidence in this case points to an investigation botched by police and tainted by torture and intimidation. All of the witnesses except for Iesha Bridewell, including the defendants, have sworn they were coerced by Dets. Murray, O’Brien and Halloran to give false statements. These same detectives may well have bought Bridewell’s testimony through intimidation, threatening her with the loss of her children and jail, as Anderson alleges they had done with him.

We will probably never know for sure who killed Harry Hudson and Leonard Causey. What we can say is that two men who may well be innocent are serving very long sentences for murder.