SURVIVOR STORIES

NICK ESCAMILLA

On February 10, 1993, I, Nick Escamilla, was illegally kidnapped from my home. Detectives entered my home without an arrest warrant, searched my home without a search warrant, and without any cause I was held in custody. My whereabouts were concealed and my constitutional rights were violated. There was absolutely no physical or biological evidence to support the prosecutor's case against me. No actual eyewitnesses existed that could I.D. me, no physical evidence linking me to the crime, no fingerprints, no weapon, no clothing, no car.

Yet the case moved forward and I was charged with first-degree murder of Hector Olague, who was 18 at the time. The murder that I was charged with was at Currie High School. My attorney never investigated this case, never looked at the facts of the case nor did this legal system take the initiative to admit that this case against me was nonexistent. All they decided to do was incarcerate innocent lives no matter of lack of evidence, no matter that my constitutional rights were violated, and no matter that the detectives on this case were the most corrupted detectives on the force. The judge who presided over this case was Dwyer, whose son worked with Jon Burge. I was found guilty and sentenced to 29 years for a crime I did not commit.

The witnesses all gave conflicting clothing descriptions. Some say the shooter had a blue "Duke" jacket, others state a black hoodie. Two witnesses gave vague physical descriptions. I had several witnesses and had a good alibi but my attorney failed to present or call them at trial. My attorney failed to investigate the background of the state's witnesses, which could have discredited them or shown bias. An admitted gang member with criminal history, who had charges pending, told detectives that he heard through some hearsay that I was involved. This questionable witness was beaten and threatened into identifying me in a photo.

Had my attorney investigated fully, he would have uncovered that my ordeal of being kicked, punched, slapped, and even spit on by officers Halloran, Boudreau, O'Brien, and Ryan was very much a reality because these officers have a history of police abuse. I was threatened with the arrest of my pregnant wife, and the detectives told me that they would throw my wife in prison and send my children in D.C.F.S custody if I did not confess to this crime. After 18 hours of torture, threats, no phone call or having an attorney present, I signed a false confession. Detective Boudreau, Halloran, and O'Brien all have extensive histories of police torture and coerced confession out of Area 1. F.B.I. investigating reports came out a few years after my confession about the Englewood 4, indicated that two Cook County State's Attorneys verified the pattern of torture by these detectives that force detainees into confessing to crimes they did not commit. If I had known about this previously of the pattern of misconduct by these detectives, I would not have served 14 ½ years behind bars. There have been multiple civil rights lawsuits filed and still pending with over 60 former and current inmates against those same officers. People have been found innocent and exonerated as a result of the uncovering and revealing of the police torture conspiracy. For 25 years police have framed and terrorized blacks and Latinos and have built their careers off their backs.

I can list all the victims but that could take up a lot of space even though the list will never stop because as years go by, more and more evidence comes out that these officers are the real criminals. It is time for our judicial system to stand on the foundation that our forefathers set forth for us. Swing the scales of justice in the favor of all the innocent men and women who have suffered in the hands of these cowards who hide behind the badge that they swore to protect the lives of the citizens of this great nation in which we live. Justice can only be served by correcting the wrong that has transpired over many years of our legal system closing their blind eye to the corruptness of the Chicago police department.

I have lost so much that I cannot get back but know that this city can amend the struggle of us all with full investigation and pardoning those of us who have been wronged by the actions of these corrupted officer of the law and bring them to justice.