Off Duty: The Crime

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:30as usual, on Monday morning.

0:35Melissa Segura:Scotland has natural beauty in abundance, but beyond the stunning landscapes, it's a fertile ground to build, grow and succeed, filled with people who are ready to push boundaries in the pursuit of breakthrough ideas. That's why today, Scotland is a dynamic hub of opportunity across growth sectors, from clean energy and life sciences to digital technology and space innovation. Scotland, for the head, heart and the spirit. Discover more at theguardian.com forward slash brandscotland. This message was paid for by Brand Scotland.

1:12On the evening of December 29th, 2011, Clifton Lewis showed up for his shift at the M &M Mini Mart on Chicago's west side. He worked days as an officer in the Chicago Police Department, but was moonlighting as a security guard to pick up a little extra cash. He was chit-chatting behind the counter with the store owner and a clerk around 8.30 p.m. when two men walked into the M &M. They shot Lewis several times, then took off with his gun and police star. Seconds after the gunmen left, a bystander called 911. Lewis was rushed to the hospital. More than 200 police officers gathered in the parking lot of Stroser Hospital where Lewis was pronounced dead.

1:56He had been on the force for eight years, a Black officer who lived in the neighborhood he served, and he'd gotten engaged four days earlier, on Christmas morning. Police launched a massive manhunt for Lewis's killer. The brass ordered that police work only this case until it was solved. Tips poured in, and many pointed to the Four Corner Hustlers, the gang that controlled the area around the Mini Mart. A week later, police had their suspects, but they weren't hustlers. They were four men affiliated with a gang called the Spanish Cobras. For hours, under intense police questioning, they said they didn't do it.

2:38But that didn't seem to matter. The Chicago Police Department decided these were the guys responsible for the brutal murder of Officer Clifton Lewis.

2:55In the years that follow, confessions would be made and recanted, evidence missing and exposed. The case against three of the men will fall apart, but one, Alexander Villa, would remain behind bars in a system that seemed determined to keep him there at all costs.

3:19From The Guardian, I'm Melissa Segura. This is Off Duty. Episode 1, The Crime.

3:41I first heard the name Alex Villa in 2019. I'd been reporting on a series of wrongful convictions in Chicago, and his sister wrote me shortly after he'd been convicted of killing Officer Lewis. But my editor at the time wasn't interested in another wrongful conviction story. Heard one, heard them all. Except, I couldn't let it go. It tugged at my brain. And eventually, I realized why. It's because we tend to think that a great injustice requires some grand plan or some comic book fill-in. But what happens when that's not the story at all? when instead every single part of the criminal legal system, police officers, their supervisors, forensics, prosecutors, did not do its job.

4:30When people with power refused to admit that they could be wrong and doubled down again and again. When the pursuit of truth takes a backseat to what they really might think of as the pursuit of justice. Institutions are supposed to have safeguards to make sure that doesn't happen. This is the story of what happens when they fail. Those decisions ripple out. They reinforce each other and magnify. And only when you look back at them from the perspective of years can you see how much destruction they've caused.

5:18Alex Villa was tried for the murder of Clifton Lewis in February 2019, more than seven years after Lewis was killed. From the beginning, Alex swore he didn't do it. He never changed his story in the years that followed. I thought my brother had the case beat the whole time. Like, my brother could have done many things. He's definitely not no angel, but he definitely wouldn't do that. I would bet everything that I have on that. That's Alex's older brother, Stephen. They grew up in Chicago, in a big Puerto Rican family, who all showed up for Alex's trial. Stephen, Alex's two older sisters, his young daughter and son, his mother, and his elderly grandmother.

6:00The trial was a massive event, especially for the Chicago Police Department. One of their own had been killed, and they had finally gotten their man.

6:13for four days Alex's family arrived to a wall of Chicago police officers staring them down the whole front of Cook County jail would be lined up with police cars the whole front in the middle of the street every court day once they got inside the tension was even worse it was like officer Lewis had been killed yesterday like there was a hundred cops in the courtroom not letting my 80 year old grandma sit down at court it was just, it was crazy. It was almost like Gotham City, like you had the Joker on trial here. In the courtroom, the prosecution laid out their case. They showed surveillance footage from the night of the murder, a man jumping over the counter at the mini mart, pointing his gun, and firing at Clifton Lewis.

6:58That man was Alex, they said. They had a confession from one of Alex's alleged accomplices, and statements from three people who said Alex told him he's the one who committed the murder. Alex's sister Marisol told me the whole time she felt like the fix was in. She said it felt like prosecutors would openly taunt Alex in the courtroom. Looking at their body language, right? Like even the prosecutors, like, ha ha ha, you're going away, you know? After four days of testimony, the jury reached a verdict in under four hours. Guilty.

7:36Marisol caught Alex's eye as he was led away in handcuffs. I specifically looked at Alex and was telling him, don't worry, you're going to come out of this. You know, like, and he just had like this blank face. And then I was looking at the rest of my family. You know, his daughter was there, his son, like my other brother, Stephen, he like fell to the floor and started crying in the middle of court. Loudly was like, he didn't do this. He didn't do this. They escorted me out, like eight county sheriffs. I was just all over the place. The sentence would come later, but Alex's siblings knew that being convicted of killing a cop meant their brother was spending the rest of his life in prison.

8:19He was 30 years old, and he was never coming home. My mom has heart failure. His daughters are getting big. My grandma's getting older. There's a possibility that he's going to lose people, that he loves all his life, and he's not even going to be there to see it. and he's sitting in jail for something he didn't do. Marisol knew better than to wallow or to wait. She worked as a probation officer in the same courthouse where Alex was tried. And so she knew the first thing they'd need for an appeal was a copy of the trial transcripts. Even before they left the courtroom, she put her sister Melissa to work.

8:54She's like, make sure you call the court reporter's office and request the trial transcripts because things mysteriously disappear. and especially a high-profile case like this. Melissa did something else right after Alex was convicted. She reached out to me. Like I said, I couldn't write about the case at the time. But years later, I found out the case was still moving through the courts. So I reached out to Melissa. And then I went to visit her and Marisol in the home they share, in the Hermosa neighborhood where they grew up.

9:31Alex is the youngest, six years younger than Marisol and four years behind Melissa. He's always been, you know, the baby of the house and grandma's favorite. And I say he was the favorite one, jokingly, but he's truly loved since he was very little. My mom was so protective of him. Like, he was her world is her world. Their parents split up when they were kids, and they all moved with their mom to the city's northwest side. There were eight or so gangs fighting for turf back then in Irmosa and neighboring Humboldt Park. Gunfire was often the soundtrack of their neighborhood. There was even a time I was sitting outside the front steps of my home and there was a drive-by happening and I had to hide underneath the stairs and duck there with my friends.

10:20The girls hid from the violence. Melissa poured herself into motherhood after getting pregnant at 15. Marisol escaped into school, getting herself into college, then a master's degree in social work. It was different for boys, Stephen told me.

10:38You were either in a gang or you were its target. He joined the Spanish Cobras when he was in middle school. Our father was in a gang. Our uncles were in gangs. So it wasn't that we were trying to be in gangs. It's almost like it's second nature to kind of be in gangs when you're in Chicago, specifically in my area as well. You know, it's almost like you're not doing nothing bad. It's almost like that's what you're supposed to do. Because it's almost like depending on what side you're on dictates what you will be.

11:14Alex joined the Cobras, too, at age 13. Stephen says they've both been having run-ins with the cops ever since.

11:25I mean, when we were young, the things the police used to do to us was just crazy. Like, they'll drop us off in different gang neighborhoods, they'll mace us, they'll beat us up, pin drugs on us. They'll lie and say we did things that we didn't do. I mean, we grew up fighting that all our lives.

11:46Alex was arrested dozens of times over the years, for everything from possession of marijuana to robbery. But those charges never stuck, which, as Stephen sees it, made him even more of a target. Like, my brother was a well-known guy, and he's been around in this area a long time. You know, and he's a charmer. He's got the girls, you know, he's always dressed nice. He's got a car, you know. My brother, he's just well-known. Well-known. And the police hated him all his life. That Police Department 25th District couldn't stand us. Listen, there's something I need to tell you up front. and it doesn't really have anything to do with the story I'm telling you, not directly, but I don't want to paint a false picture of Alex as some kind of angel.

12:32Like his brother says, he wasn't. Case in point, Alex did get one conviction and it's a serious one. He killed someone in a hit and run 11 months after Officer Lewis's murder. and I have to say part of me wishes I could tell you a neater story of a man who does no wrong accused of a crime he says he didn't commit that's the movie narrative the Shawshank Redemption the fugitive we want nice bright lines between offenders and victims but the reality is so much messier most people who commit crimes are also the victims of crimes it's a finding that holds true across the globe Point being, when Alex went hunting for a lawyer to handle his appeal, he had two strikes against him.

13:27The first was the hit and run. But the bigger problem was that he had now been convicted of murdering a cop.

13:38Thanks to her job in probation, Marisol knew about law clinics that specialized in representing the wrongfully convicted. She says she contacted all of them. And she says they all turned her away. And it was like, what? This is what you specialize in. This is what you do. Why wouldn't you want this, you know? So did at least 10 private defense lawyers, Melissa says. The moment, you know, you even mentioned, okay, this is a murder, but this is not just a murder. It is a murder of a police officer. It almost felt like we were being judged without even getting to know us or just the whole situation.

14:20For a year, the sisters got nowhere. The moment they mentioned their brother's name, the Spanish Cobras, the murder of a police officer, it was like they could see the gate come down right before their eyes. And the courts wouldn't wait forever for Alex to find a new lawyer. They felt like they were running out of time. We were like out of money almost. We kind of exhausted our options at that point. They'd paid Alex's first lawyer a lot of money, but they both felt like he never cared enough about their brother's defense. During the trial, he called only one witness to the stand. The sisters tracked down a second attorney for Alex's appeal, but they felt like he was worse than their original lawyer.

15:03In one embarrassing incident, he got Alex's name wrong and referred to him as Miguel. Like the prosecutors would even laugh at court as he was presenting his defense and all of that. They were not at all shook or anything by him. The first one failed us. The second one was just absolutely lousy. There were times we felt sick physically. Exhausted. Yeah. And we still pushed ourselves or we pushed each other. Like it was a big, big roller coaster ride.

15:36Then, in February 2020, Alex called them with an idea. The window to argue for a new trial was closing. In jail, he'd read some legal filings in another Chicago case. They were thorough, well-argued, and all of the names seemed to be correct. And he thought, now, this is the kind of attorney I need. That attorney's name was Jennifer Blagg.

16:10Melissa Segura:Scotland has natural beauty in abundance, but beyond the stunning landscapes, it's a fertile ground to build, grow and succeed, filled with people who are ready to push boundaries in the pursuit of breakthrough ideas. That's why today, Scotland is a dynamic hub of opportunity across growth sectors, from clean energy and life sciences to digital technology and space innovation. Scotland. for the head, heart, and the spirit. Discover more at theguardian.com forward slash brand Scotland. This message was paid for by Brand Scotland. Security and compliance done wrong is a giant headache. Security and compliance done right, that's Vanta.

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17:30Marisol and Melissa typed Jennifer's name into Google. And when they saw the results, they were like, what is Alex thinking? Why her? Jennifer had represented high-profile cops in murder cases. She had successfully defended an off-duty officer charged with killing an unarmed Black woman. Then she represented a white police officer named Jason Van Dyke. If that name sounds familiar, that's because Van Dyke was the cop who killed a 17-year-old black boy named Laquan McDonald. It was a horrific case that received national attention. Both because of the shooting, Van Dyke fired 16 shots at the boy, and because it took over a year and a lawsuit for the CPD to release the dashcam video of the incident.

18:15Melissa Segura:16 shots! 16 shots! 16 shots! The case and the allegations of a cover-up prompted mass protests throughout the city. 14, 15, 16, 16 shots! How could someone who defended cops turn around and defend their brother? Someone accused of killing an officer? I didn't feel comfortable about that. Neither did I. They knew Alex was getting desperate, but still. This woman? Really? But he was a bit adamant. And of course, he was frustrated and he's like, go talk to her. Let's see. He was very optimistic about her. In March 2020, Marisol and Melissa drove to Blagg's office. The woman who greeted them was not what they expected.

19:06When Melissa and Marisol met her, Jennifer Blagg wasn't dressed up. She wasn't wearing makeup. She definitely didn't sound like some slick city lawyer. She grew up in a town called Hamburg, Arkansas. Population, 2 ,400. She just might be Hamburg's second most notable export to Chicago. Home of Scotty Pippen. This is claim to fame. We lived in a concrete house that was across the cotton field from my grandparents. We had a pet cow named Daisy that I kept in touch with my cow until my mom gave it to a farmer and he promised not to kill the cow. Anyway, that's a whole other story. Jennifer was a tomboy growing up.

19:46She played basketball, hated dresses, and wanted to leave her small town for as long as she can remember. But after college, she settled down in Arkansas and worked in HR. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was meant to be doing something else, somewhere else. So she worked full time and went to law school at night. I got a job at first selling pantyhose at Dillard's. I am not a fashionista. I do not like wearing dresses. I do not like wearing pantyhose. It's absolutely hilarious that I would be selling pantyhose and giving women recommendations on if they should use ultra sheer or sheer.

20:25You know, I mean, it's just a hoot. Jennifer eventually walked across the stage in her cap and gown, no pantyhose, of course, to collect her law degree.

20:39She moved to Chicago and took on some high-profile cases. She's proud of all of them, the wrongful conviction she's overturned and the police officer she's defended, even though the Jason Van Dyke case was really controversial. It wasn't just the Via sisters who were skeptical about that one. Jennifer's friends were, too. She didn't represent Van Dyke at trial, but took on his case when she saw the sentence the prosecution was asking for. Byg wasn't apologetic when talking to the sisters about the case. They wanted every shot of the bullet to count towards his sentence and it to be a consecutive sentence.

21:15If he got sentenced that way, every defendant after him would be sentenced that way. And that is, that's not how the law should work. Marisol and Melissa were still skeptical. But they were there because Alex asked them to be. So they put aside their own misgivings and told Jennifer that they were certain their brother was innocent. Full stop. And they needed someone good to represent him. I always take what family says to me with a grain of salt. Not that they wouldn't be lying or anything like that, but there's sometimes things that family just don't know. She's like, well, what makes him innocent?

21:48Anybody can say, you know, especially your family, that your loved one is innocent. What makes him innocent?

21:57For the next two hours, the sisters laid out their reasoning. First, the M &M Mini Mart is not in Cobra territory. No Cobra would travel to another gang's turf to rob a store. Second, the confessions from Alex's alleged accomplices, those happened after days of grueling interrogations, the sisters said. Then there was the surveillance tape from the Mini Mart. The man who leaps over the counter and starts shooting Officer Lewis? He puts his left hand on the counter to vault over it. That couldn't be Alex, they said. Alex was shot in his left hand six months before the crime, and it never fully healed.