Evans v. City of Chicago

231 F.R.D. 302, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47372, 2005 WL 2482740
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 25, 2005
DocketNo. 04 C 3570
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 231 F.R.D. 302 (Evans v. City of Chicago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evans v. City of Chicago, 231 F.R.D. 302, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47372, 2005 WL 2482740 (N.D. Ill. 2005).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SCHENKIER, United States Magistrate Judge.

In 1976, plaintiff Michael Evans, then seventeen years old, was charged with the kidnapping rape and murder of nine-year-old Lisa Cabassa. In April 1977, Mr. Evans was convicted of those offenses and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 200 to 400 years. Mr. Evans remained imprisoned until May 23, 2003, when his sentence was vacated and he was released based on the results of DNA that was unavailable in the 1970s. Thereafter, on August 22, 2003, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office dismissed all charges against Mr. Evans.

In this lawsuit, plaintiff alleges that the defendant police officers conspired to frame him for the Cabassa murder, for which he spent 26 years in prison. Plaintiffs fourteen-count complaint asserts nine claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and/or 1985(3), as well as five supplemental claims under Illinois law. Plaintiff seeks recovery of “substantial damages” (see doc. # 14: Joint Status Report, 10/19/04, at 1).

Subsequent to the dismissal of charges against Mr. Evans and the filing of this lawsuit, on January 7, 2005, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich pardoned Mr. Evans (and three other individuals). In a statement accompanying the pardons, Governor Blagojevich stated: “[SJerving time in prison— years in some cases — for a crime you didn’t commit is one of the worst things that could happen to someone____ Thanks to DNA technology, these four men were exonerated. A pardon will help each of them rebuild their lives, and that’s why I granted them” (Police Officer Defs.’ Joint Mem., Ex. A). In commenting on this pardon, one of Mr. Evans’s attorneys of record in this case, stated that “[tjhis is the first official finding from a governmental authority that these men are actually innocent” (Id). More recently, in a proceeding in this case in open court on July 28, 2005, counsel for Mr. Evans indicated his intent to attempt to offer the pardon at trial as evidence of Mr. Evans’s innocence.1

The discovery dispute presently before the Court involves the attempt by the police officer defendants to obtain information utilized in the pardon decision. On December 30, 2004, the police officer defendants served a document subpoena on the Illinois Prisoner Review Board (“the PRB”) seeking production, for the period January 1976 through the present, of “[a]ll documents regarding or relating to Evans, including but not limited to: complete inmate file, parole hearings (e.g., transcripts and memoranda) and copies of correspondence sent to, or received by, Evans” (Police Officer Defs.’ Mem. Regarding Time-Frame Surrounding Subpoenas, Ex. A). Sometime in April 2005, the PRB produced documents responsive to this subpoena; however, the PRB withheld from production its clemency petition files and recommendations that it had provided to Governor Blagojevich for his consideration in connection with Mr. Evans’s pardon. When conversations between the police officer defendants’ counsel and the PRB’s counsel failed to resolve the dispute concerning production of these additional materials, the PRB filed its motion to quash the subpoena (doc. # 171).

After learning that certain materials had been withheld from the PRB’s production, the police officer defendants served a sub[309]*309poena on Governor Blagojevich on May 31, 2005, seeking production, for the period from January 1976 through and including the present, of “[a]ll documents regarding or relating to Evans, including but not limited to: the complete file and all materials created and/or reviewed by Governor Rod R. Blago-jevich and/or any member of his staff and/or State of Illinois employee that in any way affected, influenced or enabled the Governor Rod R. Blagojevich’s decision to issue a pardon to Evans on or about January 6, 2005” (doe. # 196: Police Officer Defs.’ Mem. Regarding Time-Frame Surrounding Subpoenas, Ex. F). In or about June 2005, the Governor’s office produced certain documents responsive to the subpoena, but withheld various others on assertions of privilege. Among the documents withheld from production were recommendations in connection with the pardons provided to Governor Bla-gojevich by Matthew S. Ryan, senior counsel to the Governor. After receiving documents from the Governor’s office (and learning that some were withheld), on July 6, 2005 the police officer defendants served a deposition subpoena on Mr. Ryan (Id., Ex. K). Service of that subpoena resulted in the second discovery motion pending now before the Court: a motion by Mr. Ryan to quash the subpoena for his testimony (doc. # 173). In the memorandum in support of the motion, Mr. Ryan makes clear that — on behalf of the Governor’s office — he also seeks to quash the document subpoena insofar as it seeks documents that the Governor’s office withheld on grounds of privilege.

The police officer defendants oppose both motions to quash. In addition, although they have not filed a written motion doing so, their responses to the two motions to quash make clear that they also seek production of the documents that have been withheld from production by the PRB and the Governor’s office. During a proceeding on July 28, 2005, the Court confirmed on the record that the police officer defendants sought production of these withheld materials, and further confirmed that the PRB and the Governor’s office understood that that issue was also presented for consideration by the Court at this time. Therefore, we treat the police officer defendants’ response to the motions to quash (doc. # 197) as a cross-motion to produce documents withheld for production by the PRB and the Governor.

In connection with the motions to quash, and the police officer defendants’ motion to compel, the Court has received and reviewed the briefs of the parties to the motions; privilege logs from the Governor’s office and the PRB; copies of the documents that have been withheld, for purposes of an in camera inspection; and copies of the documents that have been produced in response to the subpoenas. Upon consideration of these materials, the Court: (1) denies the motion to quash the subpoena for documents served on the Governor’s office (doc. # 173), the police officer defendants’ motion to compel production of documents by the Governor’s office (doc. # 197); (2) denies the PRB’s motion to quash the document subpoena (doc. # 171), and grants the police officer defendants’ corresponding motion to compel production of withheld documents (doc. # 197); and (3) denies the motion to quash the testimonial subpoena for Mr. Ryan (doc. # 173). Our reasoning for these rulings is as follows.

I.

In their motions to quash, the PRB and Mr. Ryan (collectively, “the Respondents”) argue that neither the documents nor the testimony that the police officer defendants seek are relevant to plaintiffs claims in this case (Respondents’ Joint Mem. 13-14). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) provides that any .party, as a matter of right, may obtain discovery of nonprivileged material “that is relevant to the claim or defense of any party.” In this case, Mr. Evans alleges that the police officer defendants engaged in a conspiracy to have him prosecuted and convicted for crimes he did not commit. The fundamental premise of this claim is that Mr. Evans is, in fact, innocent of those crimes for which he was convicted. In issuing the pardon, Governor Blagojevich stated that Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
231 F.R.D. 302, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47372, 2005 WL 2482740, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evans-v-city-of-chicago-ilnd-2005.