Judge Thomas J. Hennelly has attempted to illegally reverse the order of another judge, Thomas V. Gainer, who vacated the conviction of Gerald Reed and ordered a new trial. Gainer vacated Reed’s conviction after overwhelming evidence that his “confession” to a double murder in 1990 was the fruit of horrible torture by police working under Commander Jon Burge, torture so extreme that it broke his thigh bone.
The one hundred people packed into Hennelly’s courtroom Friday February 14, 2020 were stunned when Hennelly announced his decision to send Reed back to Prison to serve a life term. They left seething with anger, and in tears. Armanda Shackelford, Reed’s mother and a leader of the Chicago Alliance, responded in disbelief. “I never would have thought that this judge would do what he did today,” she said.
A Circuit Court judge has no authority to reverse the decision of another circuit court judge. Significantly, Hennelly’s boss as a prosecutor was once none other than Robert Milan, the special prosecutor appointed to Reed’s case. Horrible Hennelly is not only abusing his power, he's doing so to protect the corrupt lawyers who enable police torture. Enough is enough!
Gerald Reed's case
On October 3, 1990, Gerald Reed, 27, was arrested and questioned about a double murder by Detectives Michael Kill and Victor Breska at Area 3 Homicide, members of the notorious “Midnight Crew” of torturer Jon Burge. They beat him and kicked him repeatedly, and broke a metal rod that was in his right thigh along with the surgical screws that held it in place, causing him excruciating pain. The rod had been surgically placed years before to repair his thigh-bone, which had been shattered by a gunshot.
Reed signed a false confession to end the beatings, but that did not stop the torture. For 27 years, Reed has been incarcerated for a crime he did not commit and the extensive damage to his leg has not been properly taken care of. Click here to learn more about his case.