SURVIVOR STORIES

Douglas Livingston

To the readers/my supporters, my name is Douglas Livingston. I’m 46 years old and I have been incarcerated since 2012. It’s been 10 very hard years. I have been wrongfully convicted and a victim of Detective Brian Forberg badge number 21249. A corrupt Chicago Detective and his partner Detective Kevin Eberle badge number 20817 that has worked in the black communities for decades using the same illegal tactics. Detective Forberg has 11- Use of Force, 10-Illegal searches, 6-Personal Violations, 4- Verbal Abuse with Conduct Unbecoming, lockup procedures, 3- False Arrest, 2- Firearms, Criminal Misconduct Traffic and most important 2-Bribery/Corruption in which he only received a 10-day suspension (he only served 7 days of) for the second charge. They have been deceitful, made false statements, committed perjury, falsified police reports, coerced witnesses, withheld and tampered with evidence. Since 1995 he’s been protected by Blue-line/code of silence Chicago Police have ignored any and all allegations against these two detectives that’s been in black communities terrorizing them. The city of Chicago has given him awards and promotions with a salary over $107,000 to do it to our communities. He’s been unprofessional for years Detective Forberg have 38 allegations and complaints against him and only one suspension. That's is the definition of systemic racism, abuse, torture that has been covered up by Chicago Police in our communities. These Detectives have committed crimes against our communities.

On July 21, 2012 there was an argument with Roshone Eldridge (victim) and several neighborhood men about kids shooting Roshone's truck with a bb gun (none of the kids belong to me nor did I know the victim). After attending two funerals, I returned to Minnesota to assist in my mother medical care. I was trying to give my mom a kidney to  save her life. I was arrested on (now) an illegal investigated alert on 8/7/12. When I returned to Chicago on 8/29/12 I was put in a lineup of four people (against police policy). Then a line-up consists of 5-6 people usually one is the suspect while the others maybe police officers or decoys, who bear a resemblance to the suspect or fit the description that the eye witnesses gave to the police and there is no requirement that all men placed in a line up must be physically identical, if not too Great are of little consequence. a claim that there were significant differences between the ages, size and appearances of the suspect and the other line up participants goes to weight of the evidence rather than its admissibility. For one at the time of the lineup I was 35 years of age and not one participant was the same age. Second, I'm light skinned not one was light skinned. Third, I had a low haircut and others participants had dreadlocks and small afros. That's Great Now Detective Forberg question witnesses at Asel Food together at the same time and showed them a single photo of prior to the photo array, before the lineup. I know this because Judge Timothy J Joyce ask one of the witnesses did Detective Forberg show him and his brother that single photo of me before or after the photo array and line up, the witness stated that was the first picture Detective Forberg showed them at Asel Foods.

Detective Forberg committed perjury on the stand on 8/4/17 when my attorney asks him about a witness statement she made about describing the shooters (plural) as 16-30 years of age and wearing a black T-shirt, Forberg testified that the witness description was a typo. Detective Forberg was the lead detective and responsible for the contents of his reports and was familiar with the original case incident report and its contents.

On May 5/30/17 the first day of trial, the State gave my attorney new evidence of a man named Joseph Grant who was arrested approximately 3-4 months after the incident for possession of the same firearm used in the 7/21/12 incident. Detective Forberg never investigated this suspect, never investigated the arresting officers of Joseph grant about the firearm. I was consequently given 20 years for for the same weapon and 6 years for discharging that weapon. ( I have never been in possession of this weapon and Joseph Grant actually served time for the same weapon he was charge with having)  Also 3 witnesses stated that saw me doing the shooting, but there was a Detective Watson who said it was two shooters and never was none of this in my Discovery but there is a phone log of Detective Watson form ISP. On 8/3/12 the R/D's requested Illinois State Police Crime Labs to examine the recovered firearm evidence to determine whether one or more firearms had been used in the shooting. The R/D's were informed that same day that testing had determined that at least two firearms had been used in the shooting and ISP forensic Scientist Jennifer Sher determined that twelve casings were fired from a Glock type pistol and four casings were fired from a different firearm.

My jury waiver in this case was invalid because it was made without knowing all the evidence against me at the time he executed the waiver. Under Illinois law I had the right to know what the evidence was when I waived my right to a jury trial. I faced extreme prejudice because the state failed to disclose the evidence against me before trial. It has long been established that where the government knows or should have known that it's witness testimony is false or misleading, the government has an obligation to correct such testimony and if prosecutor knowingly permits false testimony to be used, the defendant (me) is entitled to a new trial. "The duty of a public prosecutor is to seek justice, not merely to convict?? Using false testimony to help obtain a conviction violates a defendant's due process rights. And prosecutor knowingly permitted false testimony to be used when she allowed states witnesses to testify that there was a street light on the corner of 5700 S Sangamon was present on the day of the homicide July 21, 2012. The state enters into evidence to show a street light pole on the southwest corner of the intersection and the state show a google maps that indicated that the photo was from November of 2015, more than three years after the incident took place. The state failed to correct the false testimony and evidence in which they presented, that the street light on the southwest corner was not actually there when the shooting took place and the Crime scene technicians photographs from the incident taken shortly after clearly showing there wasn't a street light pole here and in addition to the prosecutor's failure to correct the false testimony she had a duty to correct the false testimony. Illinois has incorporated this concept into its rules of Professional Conduct.

Chicago is a city of a long history of corrupt and racist policing and high ranking officers with violent past have continue to enjoy long and decorated careers meanwhile, people like me languish in prison because of patterns of misconduct from Detectives Forberg and Detective Eberle. If these so call award getting good cops done the job the right way and not using bogus patterns and practice and criminal tactics of fabricating evidence and committing perjury to tip the scales of Justice would have ended a Not Guilty verdict for me, that seriously affected the fairness and integrity.

Please understand my position I have been found guilty of a crime I did not commit but Illinois would rather stay wrong than admit that it had been wrong and had been UNJUST.