State’s Attorney Loses Evidence – Indicted DUI Cop Walks

Remember the story of top Chicago DUI Cop John Haleas?  He is the Chicago Police officer under indictment for allegedly fabricating DUI arrests – until now.

Ticket-writing indictment dismissed against top DUI cop

A Cook County judge today dismissed the indictment against Chicago Police Officer John Haleas, the officer accused of writing numerous false drunken driving tickets.

Judge James Obbish ruled that prosecutors improperly used statements given by Haleas to Internal Affairs investigators looking into misconduct charges against him. A U.S. Supreme Court case prohibits statements from administrative disciplinary proceedings from being used against officers in criminal cases.

Haleas was charged in March 2008 with four counts of perjury, four counts of official misconduct and two counts of obstructing justice. He was stripped of his police powers.

In his ruling, Obbish noted that the internal affairs investigator involved in the case and the assistant state’s attorney in charge of seeking the indictment gave differing versions of how Haleas’ statement was handled during the investigation. An internal affairs sergeant said he informed then-Assistant State’s Attorney David Navarro of the statement, which Haleas had no choice but to give in the internal probe of allegations he was making false DUI arrests.

But Navarro said he had carefully kept any information about the statement out of his case file in order to not taint the criminal investigation, according to Obbish. However, Obbish said he had no way to verify that claim because the state’s attorney’s office lost the file.

“There are consequences for losing evidence,” Obbish said. He added that prosecutors had the burden to prove that nothing from Haleas’ compelled statement was used to indict him, and without Navarro’s file, they were unable to do so.

Keep in mind that this is the same State’s Attorney’s office that put Haleas on the stand time and time again to prosecute people for drunk driving charges.  Amazingly enough, the State’s Attorney never lost a file on a defendant that they were prosecuting based on a Haleas arrest.  This is also the same State’s Attorney’s office that recently announced that no criminal charges will be brought against Officer Joe D. Parker, another Chicago DUI Cop accused of fabricating arrests.

Haleas made 718 arrests in 2005 and 2006 and was the primary witness in hundreds of DUI cases, garnering for himself a “Top Cop” honor from the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists for having more DUI arrests than any other officer in the state.

No word from MADD as to whether they will be rescinding those “honors”. Our attorneys will continue to follow this story.