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Article: The Color of Justice on Cook County Juries.(Chicago, Illinois)
- Article from:
- The Chicago Reporter
- Article date:
- April 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Community Renewal Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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For 10 days, Sam W. Shipp held steadfastly to his belief that Jonathan Tolliver was not guilty of murdering Chicago Police Officer Michael Ceriale.
The lone holdout on the jury said the prosecution did not present enough evidence to convince him, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Tolliver was guilty. Tolliver's fingerprints were not on the gun used to kill Ceriale, and prosecutors did not prove that Tolliver even had fired a gun, Shipp noted. And while seven witnesses had fingered the 19-year-old African American defendant shortly after the shooting, all recanted during the trial, saying police had pressured them to make false statements.
On Feb. 8, Cook ...