The special prosecutor tapped to oppose an upcoming certificate of innocence petition for Kevin Jackson, a wrongfully convicted Englewood man, is the same 1990s-era assistant state’s attorney named in one of Chicago’s best known and most expensive wrongful conviction settlements.
That prosecutor is Fabio Valentini, a 30-plus-year law practitioner, former Cook County prosecutor and former head of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. He is a staunch opponent of the state’s torture inquiry panel. He was also named in a $31 million settlement paid out to four Black Chicago men who were exonerated in 2011 after being falsely imprisoned for a crime in 1995.
Criminal justice advocates are concerned about what they describe as a “delay” in the state’s attorney’s office’s role in several innocence petition cases that involve investigations of police misconduct. So much so that they are linked in their concern about why and how Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke assigned Valentini as special prosecutor for the case of Jackson, who spent 23 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 2001 murder in Englewood.
It’s been nearly a year since an Illinois Appellate Court overturned Jackson’s murder conviction. The 44-year-old man spent more than two decades locked up after being convicted of a murder in West Englewood. The final step in his process, which has been months in the making, is for Jackson to secure a certificate of innocence.
A certificate of innocence formally clears a person who was wrongfully convicted, making it easier for them to secure employment. Once granted, a certificate of innocence paves the way for restitution for a person who was wrongfully convicted.
Jackson’s convictions — for alleged murder and alleged aggravated assault — were heavily based on statements by witnesses, some of whom now allege that they were threatened by Chicago police detectives Brian Forberg and John Foster. As detailed in the reinvestigation report that led to the overturning of the conviction, the police told one witness who was pregnant at the time that if she didn’t name or sign a statement naming Jackson as the shooter, “the crime would be on her” and “she was going to give birth to her baby in police custody.”
On Sept. 23, 2025, Jackson filed a federal civil rights lawsuit with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois against the city of Chicago, Cook County, Forberg, Foster, and a host of other law enforcement, along with Assistant State Attorney (ASA) Jessica McGuire and former ASAs Nancy Adduci, Colleen Daly and Lisa Hennelly. In the lawsuit, Jackson’s lawyers argue that “defendant detectives have a pattern and practice in numerous cases leading to wrongful convictions.”
The lawsuit lists 20 accusations against the officers and prosecutors, including the fabrication of evidence, the suppression and withholding of evidence and failure to investigate in violation of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. Other violations attributed to the government employees include false arrest and detention and malicious prosecution.
“This misconduct has been open and obvious, recurrent, and highly rewarded by the City in the form of professional advancement, higher pay, and formal commendations, all of which demonstrate that it is the de facto policy of the City to allow and even encourage this sort of unconstitutional misconduct,” Jackson’s civil rights lawsuit reads.
Meanwhile, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s office tapped Valentini to serve as one of three Special Assistant State’s Attorneys (SASAs) working to oppose Jackson’s innocence petition.
The TRiiBE reached out to the CCSAO for comment on Oct. 28. A spokesperson in an email told The TRiiBE that it reviews petitions for certificates of innocence on a case-by-case basis.
“Each matter is evaluated individually based on the evidence, applicable law and the facts to determine whether a petitioner has met the legal standard for actual innocence,” a CCSAO spokesperson said.
“A reversal of conviction means a court has set aside a prior conviction; it does not automatically establish actual innocence. A COI is a separate legal process that requires a petitioner to prove factual innocence of the charges.
Former Assistant State’s Attorney Fabio Valentini has been appointed as a Special Assistant State’s Attorney to review the Kevin Jackson matter. Mr. Valentini brings significant experience to this role, and our office remains committed to ensuring all proceedings are handled with fairness, professionalism, and transparency.”
However, criminal justice advocates have pointed to Valentini’s history with Englewood crimes and false accusations of Black men. Valentini was an assistant state’s attorney in the 1990s when he was assigned to prosecute the so-called “Englewood Four” for the 1994 murder and rape of Nina Glover. That case went on to make legal and Chicago history when it was overturned, and the four men — Michael Saunders, Vincent Thames, Harold Richardson and Terrill Swift — were exonerated due to DNA evidence and eventually awarded some $31 million in damages. An FBI investigation later found that police used illegal tactics to force false confessions from witnesses.
The case had wide-ranging repercussions. Valentini was named as a defendant in a lawsuit against the county and many others concerning his involvement in the Englewood Four case. The story of the four men, who were charged as teens and spent decades in jail, led to the passage of a new law in 2021. That law prohibits Illinois police officers from lying to children during interrogations.
Even the county’s insurance department filed a lawsuit asking to not be held responsible for Valentini’s fees and costs in relation to that 2012 case.
Attempts to reach Valentini for comment were unsuccessful.
Digging deeper into Valentini’s involvements with the Englewood Four
Valentini, who shows up repeatedly in news articles over the years, has been assigned to a number of post-conviction hearings in Cook County. He also, in his private practice, has challenged the constitutionality of the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC), which was formed in 2009 by the Illinois State Legislature to investigate allegations of torture by disgraced Chicago police commander Jon Burge and others he supervised. The Chicago Sun-Times Editorial board, in an op-Ed, called out Valentini and his law partner, Maria McCarthy, for undermining the TIRC:
“It’s shocking that lawyers representing Cook County are trying to undercut the workings of a body that was created to deal with one of the most outrageous scandals in the City of Chicago’s history, that of police torture involving former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his midnight crew of cops in the 1970s and 1980s. TIRC’s original role has been expanded to deal with all cases of alleged police torture in Cook County, not just those related to Burge.”
Regarding the Englewood Four’s wrongful conviction case, he was named alongside former ASA Terence Johnson and detectives Kenneth Boudreau, Richard Paladino and James Cassidy.
In the FBI’s review of that case, an interview with ASA Johnson, who worked with Valentini, stands out. Johnson, one of two Black ASAs in the Felony Review Unit, told FBI investigators that he always felt the Glover homicide did not make sense and was “going to come back.” He also said that he thought subjects were coached by detectives, and he worried that their statements were fabricated.
Per the documents, Johnson told FBI investigators that Valentini “had misgivings about the case” and told him, “I can’t believe these detectives.”
But the case went forward anyway.
According to a 2014 deposition obtained by The TRiiBE through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, when Richardson was arrested, one of the police officers threatened him. Richardson told the cop he didn’t commit any crimes against Glover. Richardson also initially refused to sign his confession and told Valentini: “I only said what the police told me to say.”
The court documents show that police told Richardson that if he told Valentini a police-approved version of events related to Glover’s murder, he’d go home.
In a 2019 court filing, Laura Lechowicz Felicione, general counsel to the Cook County Board, wrote that “there was a high risk that a judgment could be entered against the ASAs for malicious prosecution,” due to what Johnson revealed to the FBI. The county approved a $24 million settlement, which was split between Saunders, Richardson and Thames. Swift’s case was settled separately that same year for $5.6 million.
It’s unclear if any disciplinary action was taken against Johnson or Valentini following the settlements. After Johnson was fired by the CCSAO in 2000, Valentini continued to work at the CCSAO, holding various leadership titles, including Chief of the Criminal Prosecutions Bureau and supervisor of the Felony Review Unit. He submitted a resignation letter in 2017, which The TRiiBE obtained through a public records request. After leaving the CCSAO, Valentini became an executive director at the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
Jackson’s lawyers say the state’s objection is meant to slow the process
Jackson’s lawyers told The TRiiBE that the CCSAO’s recent move to oppose his innocence request is simply a delay tactic.
“It kind of defies logic that the State’s Attorney is continuing to fight this at great expense, and for what purpose?” said Brandon Clark, one of Jackson’s lawyers. “I find it very frustrating that the State’s Attorney is taking this approach. It feels vindictive, and it feels completely unnecessary.”
The CCSAO, now under O’Neill Burke, has been objecting to several petitions of innocence, said Elizabeth Bacon, one of Jackson’s attorneys. Another attorney, Lyla Wasz-Piper, from the Exoneration Project, also confirmed this practice as outlined in a previous TRiiBE story. Wasz-Piper represented Tyrece Williams, who was seeking a certificate of innocence in March 2025. Williams was the 50th person exonerated in a case tied to disgraced former Chicago police detective Reynaldo Guevara, but prosecutors asked for another court date and eventually dropped the charges against him on March 27.
“The fact that the State’s Attorney’s Office and Eileen Burke have decided to fight these cases suddenly is profound; it’s a repeating of Chicago’s dark history,” Wasz-Piper said in a previous interview. “The State’s Attorney Office is continuing to perpetuate police misconduct.”
She argued that under Burke, the State’s Attorney’s Office now opposes all certificates of innocence — a sharp contrast to Burke’s predecessors, Kim Foxx and Anita Alvarez. Both recognized Guevara’s widespread misconduct, she explained.
Between 2024 and 2025, Valentini and his law partner, Maria McCarthy, have been tapped to serve as special prosecutors in at least four cases, according to documentation from the Cook County Board of Commissioners’ finance committee. In 2023, a defense attorney for Devon Daniels motioned to disqualify Valentini and McCarthy from their cases as special prosecutors.
Jackson’s lawyers did not speak directly to Valentini’s involvement in the case. However, they did say prosecutors are sworn to seek justice, not convictions, according to Bacon.
“If you take that promise and then you are asking a special prosecutor to come in and evaluate a case where the allegations are parallel or similar to or related to conduct that they themselves were accused of engaging in, just hypothetically, that’s that’s very troubling,” Bacon said. “How are they going to have enough professional judgment and distance from those types of allegations to make a reasonable determination, a fair determination, as to how that case should be handled?”
The next court hearing for Jackson’s petition for a certificate of innocence is set for Dec. 3.
