"They were convinced they had the right people and they neglected to do an appropriate investigation," DiVito said. "Unfortunately, the report which documents that fact was placed in the street files and never made available to the prosecutors. It went undiscovered for a good many years."

Devine said, "Two innocent young people were killed in the south suburbs back in the 1970s, a vicious brutal murder, and one that certainly deserves to have people held accountable. But unfortunately we see from the review that was done in this case over its long history, that the four individuals spent up to 18 years in prison for a crime they did not commit."

In an editorial today, Learning from Past Failures, the Chicago Tribune appropriately calls for the creation of an Innocence Commission:

It does seem galling that shoddy evidence and lazy law enforcement work is enough to send four poor black men to prison, but not nearly enough to get any law enforcement officer responsible so much as fired.

Collectively, Dennis Williams, Willie Rainge, Kenneth Adams and Verneal Jimerson spent some 65 years in prison for a double murder they did not commit. Two of them faced execution. They were released in 1996 only after DNA technology finally advanced to the point that it could prove their innocence and implicate four others who actually did the crime.

How they got there is explained in exhaustive detail--348 pages worth--in the report authored by the former judge and high-ranking prosecutor Gino DiVito.

Early on in the case, police had additional leads to the actual murderers of Larry Lionberg and Carol Schmal, but they never followed those up, nor did they turn over those notes to attorneys. Prosecutors relied almost entirely on the perjury-laden testimony of a single, mentally unstable eyewitness and weak corroboration by another. Scientific hair analysis presented by a lab technician at trial was inaccurate and unchallenged. Inattention and carelessness by defense attorneys also contributed to the tragic result.

This kind of in-depth inquiry provides a blueprint for what ought to be done more widely and routinely after any wrongful conviction in Illinois. Other states, such as North Carolina, have established permanent Innocence Commissions, or are in the process of creating them. The purpose is to dissect travesties, recommend reforms and avoid repeating mistakes. Ideally, such a commission in Illinois would be created and function independently, rather than at the discretion of the local prosecutor, and would wield subpoena power. The model often cited is the National Transportation Safety Board, which conducts thorough investigations after plane crashes and prompts numerous aviation reforms that prevent future accidents.