Jan. 08--A man who alleges he was wrongly convicted for two murders after being tortured by Chicago police detectives at age 17 has been dealt a setback by a Cook County judge who dismissed his request for a chance to prove his innocence.
In a sometimes sharply worded written decision, Judge J. Stanley Sacks shot down Jaime Hauad's claims that he had newly discovered evidence and that his constitutional rights had been violated.
"Any defendant ... is capable of merely asserting a few 10 dollar phrases, such as: 'steadfastly maintains his innocence' ... or similar platitudes; but these phrases mean nothing unless the claims presented are meritorious-based on properly admitted evidence and existing law," Sacks wrote in a 27-page ruling that he read in part from at the bench Tuesday with Hauad's family in attendance.
The legal battle, though, is far from over for Hauad, 34, who is serving a life sentence for the 1997 gang-related slayings of Jason Goral and Jose Morales on the Northwest Side.
Hauad's attorneys intend to appeal Sacks' decision, the Cook County state's attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit is currently reviewing his case, and Hauad must be resentenced because of an unrelated U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down mandatory life sentences for minors.
Hauad's claim of innocence, featured in a front-page Tribune article in July, reads like a made-for-TV plot. Hauad says he was coerced into giving police a false alibi after Chicago detectives beat him and sliced the tips of his shoes in an office-grade paper cutter.
In seeking a hearing for Hauad, his lawyers also submitted a letter from the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago detailing how a federal witness more than a decade ago gave law enforcement the name of a man he says he saw commit the murders. That same person had written vague, apologetic letters to Hauad's family, according to Hauad's attorneys.
In June, the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission determined that Hauad's claim of torture was credible and that his case should be reviewed. The commission cited "compelling" photographic evidence from two lineup photos that seemed to support Hauad's claim that his shoes were sliced by the paper cutter. It also noted that the murder investigation involved disgraced former Chicago police Det. Joseph Miedzianowski, who is serving a life sentence in federal prison for racketeering and drug conspiracy, and who, according to testimony, abused suspects and fixed cases.
The commission then referred Hauad's case to the state's attorney's office. An office spokeswoman confirmed its Conviction Integrity Unit is reviewing the case.
In his ruling, Sacks didn't address all of Hauad's evidence but picked apart several points and pointed to trial testimony, including that two witnesses had identified Hauad, a former gang member who had been charged with other violent crimes, as the gunman in the double murder.
"Defendant is not content with his plight in life," Sacks concluded. "Defendant has made numerous claims ... in the hope of raising any issue -- however obscure, repeated or futile -- that would end or curtail his current incarceration."
Repeatedly referring to the "gym shoe claim," Sacks said that evidence couldn't be considered new evidence now "by any stretch of the law" because Hauad had failed to raise the issue at his trial. The judge also noted he had long ago rejected claims that police had physically abused Hauad. He also played up that Hauad had never confessed despite his claims of torture.
As for the claims of a new suspect, Sacks criticized Hauad's attorneys for not providing a sworn statement from the federal witness who claimed to witness the murders.
"The letter is unquestionably hearsay," Sacks wrote. "This court has not been presented with any evidence as to whether (he) is even still alive."
Minutes after Sacks' ruling, Hauad's wife and mother left the courtroom in tears.
"God will have the final word," said his mom, Anabel Perez, as she departed.
Even as Hauad plans to appeal this week's ruling, he is preparing to be resentenced by Sacks. He still faces the potential of another life sentence.
"While it might seem odd at the very least to seek a new sentence in a case we strongly believe is a wrongful conviction, at the same time we are gratified for an opportunity to tell the court who Jaime Hauad has become in the two decades since he was last in that courtroom," said Hauad's lawyer, Alison Flaum.
asweeney@tribpub.com
Twitter @Annie1221
