A special prosecutor dropped all charges Thursday against Jackie Wilson amid his third trial in the killing of two Chicago police officers.
Jackie Wilson, 60, was twice convicted in connection with the fatal 1982 shootings of Chicago cops Richard O’ Brien and William Fahey. After serving 36 years in prison, Wilson was set free in 2018 after Judge William Hooks tossed out his confession after ruling that cops had tortured him to get it.
Wilson’s latest charges of murder and robbery were both abruptly dropped, bringing to a close the latest chapter in a saga that’s spanned decades.
The prosecutions against Wilson and his brother, Andrew, are connected to a perverse part of Chicago history.
Andrew Wilson, the gunman in the murders of the two cops, won a new trial based on allegations that he was beaten and shocked during his interrogation by Jon Burge and detectives under his command. They were the first of a long line of cases documenting abuse by Burge’s so-called “midnight crew.” Burge died in 2018.
Andrew Wilson was convicted at trial again and died in custody in 2007.
Jackie Wilson, the alleged getaway driver, had his abuse allegations ignored until the state Torture Relief and Inquiry Commission eventually granted him a new hearing in 2015.
After a series of hearings — which included Burge, other retired detectives who worked on the case and an assistant state’s attorney who pleaded the Fifth Amendment when questioned about the abuse — Hooks threw out Jackie Wilson’s confession and ordered a new trial three years later.
Jackie Wilson’s lawyer, Flint Taylor, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the prosecutors’ decision to dismiss the charges.
