Prosecutors drop charges in troubled case against two men accused of killing Chicago Police Officer Clifton Lewis in 2011

Charges were dropped Wednesday against two of the three men accused of killing an off-duty Chicago police officer in 2011, the latest twist in a case marred by allegations of misconduct by police and prosecutors.

Tyrone Clay faced nearly 80 felony counts and Edgardo Colon was charged with 18 counts in connection with the fatal shooting of veteran Officer Clifton Lewis during the robbery of an Austin convenience store.

Those charges were dismissed ahead of a hearing where detectives and prosecutors were to be questioned under oath about their failure to turn over evidence, including cellphone data indicating they were nowhere near the scene when Lewis was shot. 

As soon as Judge Erica Reddick called the case, Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin DeBoni announced that all charges against the pair were dismissed.

“In light of previous rulings suppressing the statements of both defendants, and after a thorough and exhaustive review of the remaining evidence against those defendants ... the Cook County state’s attorney’s office does not believe it can meet its burden of proof at trial,” DeBoni said.

Edgardo Colon said afterwards that the dismissal was a “weight off my soul.”

Prosecutors alleged he had confessed to being the getaway driver during a 2017 trial that ended with his conviction and an 84-year prison sentence. He had been free on bond while awaiting a second trial after his conviction was overturned in 2019.

“It’s a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of praying,” said Colon. “(You) just try fighting for the truth to come out. It’s hard when you have no voice and you’re incarcerated for something you didn’t do.”

Colon, who spent a combined 10 years behind bars before his conviction was overturned in 2019, walked out of the courtroom with his lawyers.

Clay, who has been jailed since his arrest 12 years ago as one of two alleged gunmen, was set to be released from the Cook County Jail as soon as Wednesday afternoon.

A third defendant, Alexander Villa, was found guilty in 2019 and remains in jail, but he has sought to have his conviction overturned based on the same evidence of misconduct alleged by Clay and Colon.

The move to dismiss the case prevented testimony by a long list of detectives and prosecutors subpoenaed by lawyers for Clay and Colon, who claimed they had purposely held back evidence that emerged only two years ago, when Villa’s lawyers were able to gain access to a trove of decade-old CPD emails exchanged during the investigation.

Among those set to testify were Andrew Varga, a longtime prosecutor often assigned to high-profile cases, and Nancy Adduci, a respected assistant state’s attorney who heads the office’s Conviction Integrity Unit.

“I am not really surprised at all by the timing,” said Jennifer Bonjean, who took over as Clay’s attorney only last month. “I still would have liked to have had (police officers and prosecutors) on the stand to ask questions about how they justify 12 years of misconduct.”

Lewis was shot the night of Dec. 29, 2011 as he confronted two armed men while working off-duty as security at M&M Quick Foods in Austin — a job he took to earn money for his upcoming wedding to his longtime girlfriend.

Clay and Colon were arrested days later, both having confessed after lengthy interrogations. Villa had been questioned around the same time, but wasn’t arrested until nearly two years later.

Colon was granted a new trial after Judge Reddick ruled police had obtained his confession after he’d repeatedly asked for a lawyer during some 50 hours of interrogation. 

Clay had yet to go to trial, in part because of a lengthy appeal by prosecutors of a ruling by Reddick that threw out Clay’s confession, finding that he also had repeatedly asked police for a lawyer before he gave his incriminating statement.

In Villa’s case, lawyers said they also were never given access to crucial evidence during the trial, including reports on hundreds of police interviews of members of the Spanish Cobras street gang in the weeks after the shooting – an investigation targeting Villa and the gang that was dubbed “Operation Snake Doctor.”

Emails exchanged by investigators revealed that investigators were “curating” the files that they turned over, according to Villa’s lawyer, Jennifer Blagg.

Villa has a hearing set for next month in front of Judge James Linn, and Blagg said she will argue that Villa’s conviction should be tossed as well, a case she admits might have been stronger still had the hearing in Clay and Colon’s cases gone forward.

“Part of the reason we didn’t have the hearing today is, we have evidence,” Blagg said. “Of course this is the moment where (prosecutors) are going to drop the charges because you don’t want the truth to come out.”

During the hearings in the Clay and Colon cases, Judge Reddick seemed to grow increasingly impatient with lawyers for the city and the state’s attorney’s office, and in November ordered a sweeping release of thousands of police records in the case.

Colon’s lawyer, Paul Vickrey, had asked the judge months earlier to sanction prosecutors for withholding information, a motion that was rendered moot when the charges were dropped.

“There was a shocking amount of hidden and destroyed evidence in this case,” Vickrey said in a statment. “But while we are gratified for Edgardo, our hearts go out to the family of Clifton Lewis. A rush to charge and convict was the worst way to honor the short life of a dedicated officer.”