It has been over one year since former Chicago Police detective Kenneth Boudreau’s three hour defense on the witness stand denying up to 40 instances of abuse during police interrogations.
After his initial testimony, Boudreau stood with his lawyer and Fraternal Order of Police Vice President Martin Preib and addressed Larry Yellen of Fox 32 News stating, “I cannot talk about this case as it winds its ways through the courts; you all witnessed the testimony. But one thing I’ll tell you, I reject 100 percent the attack on me, my family, and the rest of this police department.”
While Boudreau has repeatedly been associated with the notorious Area Three commander Jon Burge, Boudreau was called to testify regarding the interrogation of George Anderson for the 1991 murder of 11-year-old Jeremiah Miggins, a case in which the state Torture Inquiry and Review Commission had granted Anderson’s challenge to a confession he said he made only after he was battered during 35 hours in police custody.
As this case continues, the Fraternal Order of Police have backed Boudreau, arguing it is the media’s time to “come clean” on the allegations facing Boudreau in their latest blog post, “Time For Zorn, Tribune To Come Clean On Boudreau Cases.”
Their May 28th post attests, “The claims against Boudreau are totally bogus,” and concludes by stating, “The FOP believes Boudreau and wants his cases reviewed in a legal proceeding under the rules of evidence, not by a blowhard huffing-and-puffing newspaper columnist with so much evidence that his other wrongful conviction claims are little more than fantasies.”
The Watch defends Boudreau by stating both Eric Zorn and the Chicago Tribune’s lack of coverage in key cases of exonerations of officers in police misconduct cases as well as an “ends justify the means” approach to misconduct cases fails to accurately depict the former police detective.
“Despite being a highly decorated veteran and police officer, and highly respected by his colleagues,” The Watch writes, “Zorn and the Tribune have gone to great lengths to vilify him and build a ‘pattern and practice’ claim that Boudreau was running around coercing confessions from innocent people for several decades.”
The Watch questions Zorn and the Tribune’s lack of coverage on Judge Leroy Martin’s decision to vacate Arnold Day’s certificate of innocence in the 1991 murder case.
“Both the FOP and city attorneys argued that Day should never have been released and argued that there was no evidence of his innocence to grant him a petition. Zorn and the Tribune’s coverage of this key ruling? Not a word.”
Martin Prieb has continued this discussion to Twitter, stating,
Big ruling by Judge Leroy Martin on Thursday, vacating the certificate of innocence for Arnold Day. City-hired attorneys assailed the notion that Day is innocent in motion, as did FOP attorneys. Where are the Tribune and Sun-Times now?
— The Watch (@thewatch42) May 18, 2019
In addition to Day, The Watch questions the role of Cook County State Attorney Kimberly Foxx in the release Nevest Coleman from prison for the rape and murder of Antwinica Bridgeman in 1994, claiming Zorn’s appeal to Foxx’s “progressive agenda” in her 2016 election what ultimately made her take action.
Martin Preib has continued fighting for Kenneth Boudreau through The Watch and Twitter despite “the media activists and the wrongful conviction scam.”
The 1994 George Anderson case has yet to reach a verdict.
