New trial denied in off-duty Chicago police officer’s killing
Lone remaining defendant in 2011 case sought retrial
A Cook County judge on Friday denied a man’s bid for a new trial in the troubled, yearslong saga stemming from the killing of off-duty Chicago police Officer Clifton Lewis in 2011.
After hours of arguments from attorneys, Associate Judge James Linn turned away the effort to secure a new trial for Alexander Villa, one of three men who were charged in Lewis’ killing but the only to be convicted.
“Mr. Villa was a suspect from Day 1,” Linn said, adding, “The only question I have to decide is did he get a fair trial.”
“I conclude that Mr. Villa did get a fair trial,” Linn continued, adding that the newly presented arguments now “would not have been likely to change the outcome of the trial.”
Lewis’ family declined to comment after the hearing. Villa’s friends and family offered brief messages of love and support as he was led out of the courtroom.
The ruling came after months of motions, arguments and new attorneys, with those for the defense alleging that hidden or disregarded evidence allowed police to zero in on a suspect who was clearly innocent.
Defense attorney Jennifer Blagg said the Chicago Police Department and federal investigators overlooked crucial cellphone GPS records while detectives with “tunnel vision” remained hyperfocused on Villa, despite mounting evidence that pointed to his innocence.
“The jurors would be entitled to hear this evidence,” Blagg said in arguing for a new trial for Villa. “CPD had this evidence, CPD knew about this evidence and did not disclose it.”
Blagg’s arguments came during a lengthy hearing before Linn, who also presided over Villa’s initial criminal trial and is expected to retire this month. About 15 of Villa’s supporters were present in court.
Lewis was shot and killed by two masked men in December 2011 while working a second job as security at a West Side convenience store. Cook County prosecutors initially charged Villa, Tyrone Clay and Edgardo Colon in the case, which in recent years has been plagued with problems, including allegations that police and prosecutors buried evidence.
A jury convicted Villa of Lewis’ murder in 2019, but he has not been sentenced.
In a surprise move in June, prosecutors dismissed charges against Villa’s two co-defendants, Colon and Clay, after months of contentious hearings and a labor-intensive process by the city to try to comply with discovery obligations.
A motion to appoint a special prosecutor, as well as another to compel the testimony of prosecutors previously assigned to the Villa case, were both denied. Two new prosecutors were assigned to Villa’s case earlier this year. Blagg, who joined the case to replace Villa’s former attorney, Michael Clancy, also unsuccessfully argued to have the case transferred from Linn to another judge.
Among the CPD detectives involved in the investigation, Blagg said, were Sgt. Sam Cirone and Marc Leavitt. Cirone, promoted for merit, was also heavily involved in the investigation of the killing of David Koschman by a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.
CPD records show Leavitt has cleared more homicide cases for the department than any other detective from 2012 through 2022.