Gardley v. City of Chicago
| Decision Date | 11 October 2022 |
| Docket Number | 20 C 5149 |
| Parties | WILLIE GARDLEY, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF CHICAGO and CHICAGO POLICE DETECTIVE JOHN KOROLIS, STAR NO. 21339, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
Willie Gardley has sued Chicago Police Detective John Korolis and the City of Chicago under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law. Gardley claims Korolis violated his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights and Illinois law in connection with Gardley's arrest, indictment, and detention for the 2015 murder of Ronnie Shaw. Gardley alleges (1) unreasonable seizure in violation of the Fourth and/or Fourteenth Amendment for arresting him without probable cause on March 14, 2019 (count one); (2) unreasonable detention for detaining him for eight months pre-trial without probable cause in violation of the Fourth Amendment (count two); and (3) malicious prosecution under state law for subjecting him to a criminal prosecution without probable cause. He has named the City as a defendant only on his state-law claim of malicious prosecution on a theory of respondeat superior. The defendants have moved for summary judgment on all three of Gardley's claims, arguing that Korolis had probable cause to arrest, detain, and assist in the prosecution of Gardley, or alternatively (with respect to the section 1983 claims only) that he is entitled to qualified immunity. For the reasons below, the Court grants summary judgment for the defendants on Gardley's Fourteenth Amendment claim but otherwise denies their motion.
The following facts are undisputed except where otherwise noted. On May 25, 2015, Ronnie Shaw was chased down by an assailant and shot several times at 4956 W. Erie Street, Chicago, near the northeast corner of Erie and Lavergne. Once Shaw fell to the ground, the assailant shot him several more times at close range. Shaw was pronounced dead at Mt. Sinai Hospital about an hour later.
Immediately after the shooting, police canvassed the area to locate and interview witnesses. One such witness was Dareon Winston, who lived across the street from where Shaw was killed. The contents of Winston's statements to police are heavily disputed.
Korolis contends that Winston gave an on-scene Chicago Police Department (CPD) detective a detailed account of the shooting and a description of the shooter, both of which said he could see from his porch. During his 2021 deposition, however Winston denied ever having seen Shaw get shot or that he caught anything more than a one second glimpse of the shooter, saying he was already inside his house when he first heard gunshots. Winston also testified during his deposition that he told detectives all of this on the night of the shooting and repeated the same in later conversations with CPD officers and prosecutors from the Cook County States Attorney's Office (CCSAO). Korolis says that Winston described the shooter as a Black male, approximately years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall, wearing a black baseball hat, a maroon two-piece jogging outfit, and white gym shoes. During his deposition, however, Winston testified that he told detectives that the shooter wore his hair in braids and that he was not wearing a hat. He also testified that he told detectives that he could not remember the shooter's face.
On May 26, 2015, Shaw's sister Erica Goodlow met with Korolis to share secondhand information about the assailant that she had learned since the shooting, namely: (1) he went by the nickname "Flocka"; (2) he was a member of the Travelling Vice Lords (TVLs) street gang; (3) he was recently released from jail; (4) he wore dreadlocks; (5) he was from the Ferdinand/Leamington area; and (6) he was pictured on his Facebook page under the name "LpmgFlock Rustworld." Using this information, Korolis searched CPD's databases and found Gardley's booking photos and other information. Korolis believed this matched information provided by Goodlow and other witnesses because it indicated Gardley was a 5-foot, 10-inch, 20-year-old Black male who recently had been released from prison and whose last documented address was on Leamington Avenue. Gardley disputes that the Facebook photos that Korolis used for comparisons to mugshots were pictures of him; he contends they were photos of his recently deceased friend. Korolis testified during his deposition that he was not sure if the profile picture from the Facebook account referenced by Goodlow depicted Gardley. In a videorecorded interview following his arrest, Gardley told police that his nickname is "Flock," not "Flocka," and that he has never had dreadlocks.
On May 30, 2015, Korolis met with Derrick Lewis, another individual who claimed to have information about the Shaw murder. In police reports and during his deposition Korolis stated that Lewis told him that on the night of the murder, he was walking northbound on Lavergne toward Huron when he observed a Black male with dreadlocks, known to him only as "Flocka," chase down and shoot Shaw before fleeing on a bicycle. In police reports and during his deposition, Korolis also stated that Lewis told him Flocka came into his barber shop several days later with crudely cut dreadlocks and asked Lewis to clean and even out his haircut. Lewis was also shown Gardley's photograph and identified him as the person who killed Shaw, but he refused to sign off on his identification. During his 2021 deposition in the present case, however, Lewis testified that he did not witness Shaw's murder, was intoxicated when he spoke to detectives, was not shown any photos for identification, and only told detectives information that he had learned from other people.
On June 2, 2015, detectives conducted a follow-up interview with Winston at his home during which they asked him to identify the shooter from a photo array that included Gardley's mugshot. In police reports and during his deposition, Korolis stated that Winston confidently identified Gardley as the shooter but refused to sign his identification out of fear of retaliation. Winston testified during his deposition that he was shown photos but did not recognize anyone in them; he also testified that he told detectives this when they interviewed him that night.
On July 14, 2015, Korolis conducted a follow-up interview with Lewis, this time with an assistant state's attorney (ASA) present. Lewis signed a written eight-page statement in which he identified Gardley as the shooter. Lewis testified during his deposition that he did not know that the statement he signed said he witnessed Shaw's murder, nor did he recall identifying Gardley as the shooter from a photo array and signing the identification. He did, however, recall detectives suggesting that his sentence would be reduced if he cooperated with them, and that they kept putting Gardley's photo in front of him as they asked him repeatedly about the shooting. Lewis further testified during his deposition that he told someone in law enforcement that he never witnessed Shaw's murder.
Though Gardley disputes the parts of Korolis's Local Rule 56.1(a) statement of facts that were based solely on police reports, those reports state that between September 2015 and October 2018, CPD did not uncover any further eyewitnesses, forensic evidence, or other substantive evidence about Shaw's murder.
In police reports and during his deposition, Korolis said that in March 2018, Winston told him that he did not want to testify or cooperate with law enforcement out of fear of retaliation. In October 2018, Lewis likewise refused to cooperate further with the police, and he recanted his prior identifications and statements. The following November, Korolis presented the Shaw murder investigation to the CCSAO. Prosecutors then decided to issue a grand jury subpoena for Winston's testimony and bring Lewis in for another interview, despite their stated reluctance to cooperate.
Prior to testifying before the grand jury, Winston again met with detectives, this time with ASAs present. According to police reports and his deposition, Korolis contends that Winston relayed the same account of the shooting that he had given years earlier, including his identification of Gardley as the shooter. Winston testified during his deposition, however, that he did not recognize anyone in the photographs shown to him by detectives; he told them that; and they were trying to get him to say things he did not want to say.
Winston testified before the grand jury on December 10, 2018. He testified that he saw Gardley murder Shaw, and he identified Gardley from a "six-pack" photo array, signing his name in the jurors' presence. Winston also told the grand jury that he was reluctant to be there because he still lived in the same neighborhood and was worried about repercussions his testimony could have on his family. During his deposition and in his response brief, Gardley contends that Winston's reluctance resulted from feeling pressure to make an identification despite not knowing whether he was identifying the correct person, and pressure to say things he did not want to say. Winston testified during his 2021 deposition that he was not sure if the person he identified before the grand jury was the shooter and that he signed the identification despite this because he wanted to get out of there.
On January 10, 2019, Korolis interviewed Renard Williams another individual who reached out to CPD to provide information relating to Shaw's murder. Williams claimed he was in the area when the shooting occurred, and he implicated an individual named Darius Murphy as the person who shot Shaw. Korolis testified during his deposition, and stated in police reports, that he did not find Williams credible due...
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