Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx Has Moved to Vacate 8 Additional Convictions Tied to Former Chicago Police Sergeant Watts

Following today’s court action 220 cases related to Watts have been dismissed .

CHICAGO – Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced today that the office filed motions to vacate 8 convictions as part of the office’s ongoing review of misconduct by corrupt former Chicago Police Sergeant Ronald Watts.

Since State’s Attorney Foxx took office in December 2016, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) has moved to vacate a total of 220 cases involving former Sergeant Watts, who has a history of preying on people from Chicago communities and falsely pinning crimes to these individuals. 

“Vacating these convictions provides just a fraction of relief for those who spent time in prison, away from their families, and we will never be able to give them that time back. We will continue to review these cases as we seek justice for all his victims,” said Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. “I’m grateful for the attorneys in this office who continue to seek justice, restore trust, and address the historic inequities of Cook County’s criminal justice system,” Foxx continued.

Today in court, prosecutors formally presented the motions to Judge Erica Reddick during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building in Chicago, who granted the motions and vacated the convictions.

The CCSAO’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU), tasked with investigating and addressing claims of wrongful convictions, continued reviewing cases after a pattern of misconduct and criminal actions by Watts was uncovered, resulting in lacking confidence in the initial arrests and validity of the convictions.   In April 2022, Foxx did not oppose petitions in 44 cases where individuals claimed they were targeted by Watts and those convictions were vacated by the court. 

As of today, under the Foxx administration, the work of the CCSAO has led to vacated convictions of 237 different cases.