CHICAGO _ Inmates Wayne Antusas and Nicholas Morfin have been approaching a potential turning point in their criminal cases _ a chance to go before judges and argue their innocence in a 1995 double murder.
The evidence has shifted in the decades since their convictions for helping to plan the gang shooting on Chicago's Southwest Side. A key witness has changed his testimony to say the men weren't involved, the admitted shooter has said there was no plan for the attack, and prosecutors already have dropped charges against a man who had been accused of ordering the killings.
But now it's unclear whether Antusas and Morfin will have their hearings, previously set for May, anytime soon. Innocence claims such as theirs are among the many legal matters potentially delayed by the spread of COVID-19, a pandemic that has brought the Cook County court system to a virtual halt while also elevating the danger of sitting in prison or jail.
Last year, Illinois led the nation in exonerations with 30, and the state has cleared more than 300 convicts over the last three decades, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. Now with the coronavirus gaining a foothold in the Cook County Jail and the state prison system, prisoners who may have been wrongfully accused or convicted could remain stuck behind bars and in harm's way, just like the guilty.
Neither Antusas nor Morfin is at a prison that has yet reported a case of COVID-19, but their attorneys worry it may be only a matter of time. Antusas' sister, Nicole Loye, worries for her brother and her parents, who she said are in poor health.
"He deserves his freedom, and it feels like if he gets (the coronavirus), that's my worst nightmare," she said as she wept. "I don't even know when my brother will be back in court, if he even makes it, or if we even make it."
