Dukes v. Washburn

• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois
• Writing for the Court: MARY M. ROWLAND, United States District Judge
• Citation: Dukes v. Washburn, 600 F.Supp.3d 885 (N.D. Ill. 2022)
• Decision Date: 26 April 2022
• Docket Number: Case No. 21-cv-3672
• Parties: William DUKES, Plaintiff, v. Chicago Police Sergeant James WASHBURN, #20372, et al., Defendants.

600 F.Supp.3d 885

William DUKES, Plaintiff,

v.Chicago Police Sergeant James WASHBURN, #20372, et al., Defendants.

Case No. 21-cv-3672

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

Signed April 26, 2022

Stephen L. Richards, Chicago, IL, Joshua Samuel Milder Richards, Law Office of Stephen L. Richards, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.

Brian Patrick Gainer, Ahmed A. Kosoko, Lisa Marie McElroy, Johnson & Bell, Ltd., Chicago, IL, for Defendants James Washburn, Rolando Rodriguez, City of Chicago.

Andrew Yahres Acker, Michael K. Durkin, Michael R. Durkin, Storino, Ramello & Durkin, Rosemont, IL, for Defendants Darlene Sobczak, Robert Donegan, Allan Pineda.

William B. Oberts, Amy M. Kunzer, Tribler Orpett and Meyer, P.C., Chicago, IL, for Defendants Brian Killacky.

K. Austin Zimmer, Sean Michael Sullivan, Del Galdo Law Group, LLC, Berwyn, IL, for Defendant City of Cicero.

Elizabeth Francine Brogan, Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Civil Actions Bureau - Complex Litigation Section, Chicago, IL, for Defendant Cook County.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MARY M. ROWLAND, United States District Judge

This case arises from two tragic murders. In 1993, Marilyn Williams and her eight-year-old granddaughter, Lucy, were murdered. Years later, Plaintiff William Dukes was arrested, tried, and convicted for their murders in Illinois state court. After the appellate court vacated his conviction, the State re-tried Plaintiff, and the re-trial resulted in his acquittal in 2019. Up until his acquittal, Plaintiff spent 15 years and 91 days in custody. Plaintiff brings a complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the various Defendants—members of the Chicago and Cicero police forces and a State's Attorney investigator—violated his constitutional rights by fabricating evidence and coercing a false confession. Plaintiff also sues the City of Chicago, Town of Cicero, and Kim Foxx in her capacity as the Cook County State's Attorney for indemnification under state law.

Defendants have all moved to dismiss on various grounds. [29]; [34]; [40]; [55]. For the reasons explained below, this Court grants in part and denies in part their motions.

I. Background

This Court accepts as true the following facts from the complaint [4]. See Lax v. Mayorkas , 20 F.4th 1178, 1181 (7th Cir. 2021).

A. Parties

Plaintiff William Dukes resides in Cook County. [4] ¶ 4.

Defendants Washburn and Rodriguez have, at all times relevant, served as detectives in the Chicago Police Department. Id. ¶¶ 5–6. Defendants Sobczak, Donegan, and Pineda have at all times relevant worked as detectives in the Cicero Police Department. Id. ¶¶ 7–9. Defendant Killacky served as an investigator for the Cook County State's Attorney Office. Id. ¶ 10. Plaintiff sues these Defendants in their individual capacities. Id. ¶¶ 5–10.

In addition to the individual Defendants, Plaintiff sues Defendants Kim Foxx in her capacity as the Cook County State's Attorney, the City of Chicago, and the Town of Cicero for indemnification purposes. Id. ¶¶ 11–13, Counts VI–VIII.

B. Overview of Plaintiff's Criminal Case History

On April 14, 2004, Plaintiff was arrested and charged with two murders, home invasion residential burglary, attempted robbery, and aggravated criminal sexual assault. Id. ¶ 14. A jury convicted Plaintiff with the two murders. Id. ¶ 16. On April 23, 2012, the court sentenced Plaintiff to life imprisonment. Id.

On November 4, 2014, the Illinois appellate court reversed Plaintiff's conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. Id. ¶ 17; People v. Dukes , 2014 IL App (1st) 121541-U, 2014 WL 5761163 (Nov. 4, 2014).

On July 11, 2019, the trial judge found Plaintiff not guilty after a bench trial and released him from custody. [4] ¶ 18. Plaintiff spent 5,566 days in custody—or 15 years and 91 days. Id. ¶ 19.

C. Evidence at First Trial

At his first trial, the prosecutors introduced the following evidence against Plaintiff. Id. ¶ 20. Marilyn Williams owned a house in Cicero; in the summer of 1993, she lived upstairs in the house with her daughter, Lucy, and Lucy's two children, Dustin (then 2 years old) and Bridget (then 8 years old). Id. ¶ 21. Marilyn rented part of the first floor to Marko Tomazovich. Id.

Sometime that summer Marilyn met Plaintiff and leased him a second unit on the first floor. Id. ¶ 22. Plaintiff and Lucy briefly engaged in a sexual relationship that summer. Id. On July 23, 1993, Lucy told Plaintiff she was going to marry her longtime boyfriend, Kevin Rhynes, the next day. Id. ¶ 23. Plaintiff wished her luck. Id. Lucy had sex with Plaintiff that night and married Kevin at the courthouse the next day. Id. Thereafter, Lucy and her children moved into Kevin's home, and Plaintiff moved out of Marilyn's home. Id.

The other tenant in the home, Tomazovich, experienced severe substance abuse and addiction issues. Id. ¶ 24. By summer 1993, Tomazovich stopped paying rent. Id. ¶ 24. Lucy handed Tomazovich an eviction notice for failure to pay rent and both Marilyn and Lucy told him to move out. Id. ¶ 25. He replied, "Fuck you, bitches; I ain't paying." Id. Later, Tomazovich said to Marilyn, "One day, I'm going to get you when you're alone. You better watch your back. I'm going to kill you." Id.

On August 28, 1993, Lucy left her kids with Marilyn while she went to work as a cocktail waitress. Id. ¶ 26. She went to Marilyn's home the next morning, whereupon she found the door ajar and saw her son, Dustin, sleeping on a couch. Id. ¶ 27. Lucy found Marilyn and her daughter, Bridget, dead in the bathtub. Id. She picked up the telephone but heard no dial tone, so she went down to Tomazovich's unit and banged on the door. Id. When he answered, she told him to call 9-1-1. Id. Tomazovich came upstairs with her and then went to a neighbor's home to call the police. Id.

The medical examiner found that Bridget died when someone tied a ligature around her neck. Id. ¶ 28. Tears on her vagina indicated she had been raped shortly before her death. Id. Marilyn also died from suffocation. Id. Her head bore marks showing the result of blunt force trauma shortly before death. Id.

After police recovered a blood-soaked comforter from Marilyn's home, lab tests showed that the blood matched Bridget's blood. Id. ¶ 29. Police also found several hairs on the comforter. Id. From Tomazovich's unit, police obtained a bloody shirt and bloody jeans. Id. Lab tests indicated that the blood from Tomazovich's clothes matched Tomazovich, but not Bridget or Marilyn. Id.

In an initial interview on August 29, 1993, Tomazovich told Defendant Sobczak, a Cicero police detective, that he knew nothing about the murders. Id. ¶ 30. He told Sobczak that he bled on his shirt and jeans in a bar fight and during a fight in the woods. Id. In October 1994, police arrested Tomazovich for two robberies. Id. ¶ 31. Tomazovich pled guilty and the court sentenced him to six years in prison. Id.

In March 1995, Sobczak again interviewed Tomazovich about the murders because he remained a suspect in the case. Id. ¶ 32. Again, Tomazovich denied knowledge about the murders. Id. He changed his story, however, when Sobczak interviewed him against in August 1995. Id. ¶ 32. During that interview, Tomazovich said he watched while Plaintiff murdered Marilyn, then raped and murdered Bridget. Id. ¶ 32.

Police arrested Plaintiff in 1995 and found part of Lucy's driver's license in his wallet. Id. ¶ 33. Plaintiff told Defendant Sobczak that he knew nothing about the murders and had not been at Marilyn's house the night of the murders. Id. Police released Plaintiff without charging him at that time. Id.

In 1998, police arrested Tomazovich and questioned him about the murders. Id. ¶ 34. This time, Tomazovich said he held Marilyn's legs while Dukes strangled her. Id. Prosecutors then charged Tomazovich with the murders. Id. Five years later, in October 2003, Tomazovich agreed to plead guilty to home invasion and to testify against Plaintiff in exchange for the dismissal of the murder charges against him. Id. ¶ 35.

Plaintiff alleges that in October 2003, Defendant Killacky tried, while acting undercover, to induce Plaintiff to confess to the murders. Id. ¶ 36. Killacky did not succeed. Id.

Officers arrested Plaintiff on drug charges on January 9, 2004. Id. ¶ 36. According to Plaintiff, police questioned him for approximately 36 hours, almost continuously, including a period when he "was surreptitiously interrogated and recorded by defendant Brian Killacky, who was placed in" his cell. Id. ¶¶ 36–37, 63–64. Defendants Washburn, Rodriguez, Donegan, and Pineda also participated in this interrogation. Id. ¶ 65. Throughout the interrogation, Plaintiff did not receive any Miranda warnings. Id. ¶ 66. Plaintiff asked for and was refused counsel at many points during the interrogation. Id. ¶ 67.

On January 10, Defendant Washburn questioned Plaintiff. Id. ¶ 38. At trial, Washburn claimed that Plaintiff said he wanted to tell Washburn about his participation in the double murders but first wanted to make some phone calls. Id. ¶ 39. According to Washburn, after the calls, Plaintiff said he would make a statement about his participation in the murders if the State promised to not seek the death penalty. Id. ¶ 40. Washburn spoke to his supervisor, and upon return, said that the "State's Attorney's office wants to know exactly what you're going to say in your statement regarding the murders." Id. According to Washburn, Dukes then said, "well, I'm going to tell them about my participation the murders of Marilyn and Bridget." Id. Washburn asked, "What are you going to say? That you killed Marilyn and Bridget?", to which Plaintiff answered, "yes, yes, I am." Id.

D. Motion Suppress and Trial Testimony

Before his trial, Plaintiff filed a motion to suppress the discussions he had with Washburn and Cook County assistant State's Attorney Jim Papa as plea negotiations. Id. ¶ 41. The trial court denied the motion except that it decided the State could not elicit testimony that Plaintiff asked...