SURVIVOR STORIES

Ahmad Simms

On November 27, 1999, Suzie Irving, 84 years old, was found murdered in her apartment on the 7100 block of South Michigan Ave. On December 2 police arrested three young men, Ahmad Simms (19), Lino Niles (22), and Curtis King (17). King allegedly confessed that he together with Simms and Niles robbed and killed Irving, think that she had won the lottery. 

Ahmad Simms is one of the African American men who remain incarcerated in the Illinois Department of Corrections. He was convicted in Cook County based only on his “confession”, which he has insisted from the beginning was extracted through physical coercion and torture by detectives under the command of former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge. 

On December 2, 1999, Simms was 19 years old. He was arrested at the apartment of his aunt Ernestine Grayer at 4947 S. Federal in the Robert Taylor Homes, and tortured by eleven Chicago Police detectives(i) at Area 2 Police Headquarters, until he confessed to the murder of Irving, a crime he knew nothing about and in which he had no involvement. At his trial he testified in detail about the police brutality that he had suffered, but of course, the detectives denied ever laying a hand on him. At the time of this crime Simms was with his Aunt Dianna Smith and his cousin Aja Morris in Hammond Indiana at their home. He stayed there from November 18 until December 2,1999. Both is aunt and his cousin have sworn statements attesting to this. However, they were not called as witnesses due to inner family issues at that time. 

In a hearing to suppress his “confession” Simms testified in detail about what the police did to him. He said that while he was still in his Aunt's apartment he was kicked in the back and dragged by handcuffs face first throughout the apartment while being beaten. He was then taken outside the apartment and down to the porch. He was thrown into a gate, and punched in the nose, fracturing it. He was slapped repeatedly and choked. His neck was stepped on while waiting for the elevator in the project, and he was repeatedly kicked in the groin. He was hit on 

the arm with a blackjack baton and punched on both sides of his face. He was kicked in the ribs, legs and back. The cops pushed every button on the elevator, thereby causing it to stop on every floor while repeatedly beating on Simms. Finally he was placed in a squad car and he was punched in the throat and face. 

But the court refused to listen, finding that the detectives were telling the truth. Simms was convicted and sentenced to two concurrent 15-year terms for home invasion and armed robbery, consecutive to a 45-year term for first degree murder. 

Simms subpoenaed the records and reports of the detectives, but the States Attorney said there were no such records. They also said there were no allegations of any kind against the officers. The trial judge, Stanley J. Sacks, used his position as judge to acquire the subpoena’s filed by Simms’ his counsel, he said to speed up the process. Jusge Sacks then took it upon himself to do an in-camera inspection of those records and reports without Simms and his counsel present. Then announced to the court: 

"The subpoena was for any and all records, reports, physical abuse by the following and gives various police officer's names for the limited time of the last 10 years. Copies concerning various police officers, and indicating regarding other's, there was never any complaints regarding any physical abuse which is what the subpoena called for. 

“The one's that did come in regarding certain officers: Hamilton, Bagdon, Higgins, Przepiora. I have read all the CR's. I'll have them sealed and kept in the court file under seal. There is nothing in the files that i see that would establish even remotely any pattern of abuse or any abuse relevant to the motion to suppress evidence in this case."(ii)

Yet the Goldston Report(iii), the report of OPS Investigator Francine Sanders, the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), and the Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC) have all found that eight of the eleven detectives in Simms’s case, were guilty of a "practice and pattern of systematic abuse", while acting in their official capacity as officers of the law. 

Simms now has pending in the Circuit Court a Successive Post-Conviction Petition with newly discovered evidence, evidence that was known to the prosecution and withheld, a “Brady Violation."(iv) It was known by the prosecution that these detectives had already been found to have engaged in a practice and pattern of systematic abuse. Simms also filed a complaint with the Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC) and received acknowledgement that his claim meets their requirements and that a hearing will be scheduled. 

The trial judge chose to ignore these facts, which he had to have known if he read the reports. He knew they were true because before he became a judge, he was co-counsel with (now Judge) Bertina Lampkin in the George Jones Street Files case against Area 2 detectives and supervisors. In that case police “street files” which contained exculpatory evidence, were similarly withheld from Jones’s defense.(v)

LaShonda Jones also lived in apartment at 4947 S. Federal, where Simms was arrested. She witnessed the torture in the apartment and has sworn an affidavit describing what she saw. In addition, Simms codefendant, Curtis King has also sworn an affidavit and is prepared to testify to what happened. 

The case against Ahmad Simms is wholly dependent on a “confession” extracted through torture. There is ample new evidence and witness statements to exonerate Simms. His petition for post-conviction relief is pending. 

- Prepared by Ted Pearson 

  • i The detectives were Michael McDermott, David Fidyk, Przepiora, Scott Rotkvich, William Higgins, Michael Baker., Gerald Hamilton, Sergeant Walsh, M. Tully, T. Bagdon, Bidnick. 

  • ii This is from the trial transcript. 

  • iii See https://peopleslawoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Goldston-Report-with-11.2.90-Coversheet.pdf 

  • iv Brady Violation: A Brady violation is a violation of the Brady Rule, which requires the prosecution to disclose specific evidence it has in a criminal case to the defense. The evidence that the prosecution must disclose is any evidence that could be favorable to the defendant. Brady material is derived from the United States Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland in 1963. It established a rule that the prosecution has a constitutional duty of due process to disclose material evidence favorable to a defendant. 

  • v See “George Jones, Street Files and False Imprisonment,” Peoples Law Office, https://peopleslawoffice.com/about-civil-rights-lawyers/history/george-jones-street-files-and-false-imprisonment/