Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Sufficiency of Evidence

By: Derek Hawkins//August 19, 2019//

Sufficiency of Evidence

By: Derek Hawkins//August 19, 2019//

Listen to this article

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Refugio Ruiz-Cortez v City of Chicago, et al.

Case No.: 18-1078

Officials: HAMILTON, BARRETT, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sufficiency of Evidence

Glenn Lewellen, a dirty cop with the Chicago Police Department (CPD), arrested Refugio RuizCortez for possessing cocaine. Lewellen served as the key witness at the trial, where Ruiz-Cortez was convicted. RuizCortez then spent a decade in prison before the federal government discovered Lewellen’s crimes, which included drug conspiracy, racketeering, and, according to the government, perjury at Ruiz-Cortez’s trial. The government prosecuted Lewellen and moved to vacate Ruiz-Cortez’s conviction, recognizing that without Lewellen’s testimony there was no evidence to prosecute Ruiz-Cortez.

Ruiz-Cortez sued the City of Chicago and Lewellen for violating his constitutional rights. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He complained that the City and Lewellen withheld material impeachment evidence—namely, evidence of Lewellen’s drug and racketeering crimes. See Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972); Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). The district court dismissed the claim against the City at summary judgment, concluding that there was no evidence of municipal liability. See Monell v. Dep’t of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978). A jury later found for Lewellen, despite his refusal to testify based on the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

We affirm the dismissal of the City. Ruiz-Cortez failed to marshal the evidence needed to meet Monell’s high standard. But we vacate the judgment for Lewellen and remand for a new trial against him. The district court allowed Lewellen to offer innocent explanations for his Fifth Amendment invocation, ones that fly in the face of Fifth Amendment law, and it then failed to instruct the jury about when a Fifth Amendment invocation is proper. Those errors, taken together, made for a fundamentally unfair trial.

Affirmed in part. Vacated and remanded.

Full Text


Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests