Johnson v. City of Chicago

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CONLON, District Judge.

Isaac Johnson was tried and convicted of murder and unlawful restraint in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The conviction rested on a number of items of circumstantial evidence linking him to the victim at the place and time of the murder. In addition, the prosecution introduced police testimony that Johnson orally confessed to the crime after a witness identified him in a lineup as the man whom he saw with the victim shortly before her death. Although Johnson’s counsel hinted during opening arguments that the statements were not freely and…