A murder case involving the killing of a Peoria County Sheriff's sergeant in 1970 will get a modern-day reconsideration this week. 74-year-old Cleve Heidelberg’s sentence will be reexamined Tues. in a hearing that will consider new evidence and testimony.
Heidelberg, who’s maintained his innocence, is serving out his more than 99 year sentence at Hill Correctional Center in Galesburg. But there’s a chance his conviction could be overturned, and Heidelberg could walk free.
During Heidelberg’s first appearance for a post-conviction hearing last Spring, Judge Al Purham told the court he wants to get to the truth, for the sake of transparency.
But revisiting a murder case nearly half a century after it happened presents a whole host of challenges. The biggest hurdle is many people involved in the trial have died. And of those who remain, memory is sometimes an issue.
Attorney Don Jackson is representing Heidelberg with Andy Hale, of Chicago. Jackson says it’s important to consider the historical context of 1970 Peoria in the case. At that time, Jackson had just graduated law school and moved to Peoria to start his career as a public defender. He says, in those days, caseloads were heavier.
“And you never knew which case was going because back then a public defender served all of the criminal courts,” Jackson said. “To have the time do a thorough investigation of a particular case, was just impossible.”
Jackson says on some days, he’d see as many as 15 cases at a time.
Jackson says the heavy caseload may have kept Heidelberg from getting the best defense in court. He adds, this was just after the height of strained relations between police and the Black Panther Party in Peoria. Jackson says negative perceptions about black men with criminal records created an inherent bias in the judicial system.
“I don’t think we’re completely away from that kind of system. I still think there is a certain perception, especially of African American males who get caught up in situations that could be deemed to be criminal,” Jackson said. “They, in my judgment, don’t receive all the time the best investigations of facts.”
Ron Hamm, another newly-minted attorney at that time, was the prosecutor defending the state of Illinois in the Heidelberg case. Hamm says times were tense, particularly during the month of Heidelberg’s trial.
“I was threatened; there were threats to the courthouse, a bomb scare,” Hamm said. “There were threats against the prosecutor and the judge. The police patrolled my residence at night on a daily basis during the trial.”
Hamm regards it as one of the most memorable cases in his law career that spanned more than four decades.
“The protests were just coming everywhere. There was a local, newspaper that was published in the black community, and it was very vocal on the innocence of Mr. Heidelberg,” Hamm said. “Family, friends stirred that pot very well. They did a good job of getting the publicity as high as they could on the case.”
Hamm says he pushed for the death penalty. Instead, Heidelberg got a prison sentence of 99 to 175 years, on charges of murdering Sgt. Raymond Espinoza. But after the sentencing, another man came forward and confessed to the murder. His name was James Clark. He was the brother of slain Peoria Black Panther leader, Mark Clark. James' confession never surfaced in the courtroom.
“Now I don’t know what happened in Chicago,” Peoria Police Lt. Paul Hibser said.
”The Black Panthers said the cops came in. I wasn’t there, I can’t say, all I can say is Mark Clark and Fred Hampton got shot and killed.”
That highly publicized raid sent shockwaves to Peoria, Clark’s hometown. Then 22-year-old Mark Clark was the lesser-known Panther, compared to Fred Hampton. But Clark’s supporters in Peoria knew him as a civil rights leader. He started school programs for kids and a food service for the poor. Mark Clark was also inducted into the Peoria Riverfront Museum’s African American Hall of Fame in 2011.
Hibser remembers the Black Panthers as a violent extremist group. His living room contains bits of the history. He recalls one particular raid of a Panther member’s home in 1970:
“We found all kinds of paraphernalia, Black Panther paraphernalia, like a coloring book,” Hibser said. “It was of a police officer getting his throat slashed and and another police officer getting stabbed in the back.”
Today, Heidelberg’s defense team contends Mark’s death in Chicago was James’ motive for killing Sergeant Espinoza in Peoria. They allege, James wanted to avenge his brother.
The retired police lieutenant calls that a “jailhouse story,” woven by criminals.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that was Heidelberg. I’ll stick to that story till death day,” Hibser said. “And no matter what that lawyer tries to twist, a fact is a fact, I saw that guy.”
Hibser was among the group of police who arrested Heidelberg, minutes after the murder in the early morning hours, but he admits, it was dark.
“Could I make a 100 percent positive identification?, there’s gray area there,” Hibser said. “In my mind, I saw him, I know it was Cleve Heidelberg, but if I had to pick him out of a lineup, I don’t know if I could have done that.”
Several officers claimed they could identify Heidelberg driving the escape car that Heidelberg alleges he loaned to a friend that night. Shortly after his vehicle crashed going at 70 miles per hour, they arrested Heidelberg walking toward the damaged car.
Things appear to have gotten out of hand during Cleve Heidelberg’s arrest. At least five officers, including Hibser, were involved, in what apparently devolved into a struggle. It reached the point that one of the officers received discipline in the administrative review of the matter.
“For unlawful use of force making an arrest, I don’t remember exactly what the charge was,” Hibser said. “But I know Bob Watson was suspended two or three days, for kicking Heidelberg.”
In fact, when Heidelberg booked that morning, he had wounds on his face. That’s one of the reasons his defense says the police report was suggestive and unfair. They say Heidelberg looked more suspicious in the police lineup.
Police documents obtained by Heidelberg’s attorney show the two eyewitnesses at the Bellevue Drive-In theater the night of the shooting couldn’t consistently identify Heidelberg in three initial lineups. But the police report submitted as evidence showed both witnesses identified Heidelberg as the shooter.
In addition to those issues, Heidelberg’s attorneys also say witnesses of the arrest weren’t contacted until six months after the incident. Officer Hibser says the reason for the delay may have been the investigating officer Emanuel Manias, whom he calls “Manny”, had trouble finding people to come forward with information.
“So that’s not uncommon,” Hibser said. “I have no idea why it took six months for Manny to track down a witness, but evidently he did and evidently the court allowed that testimony to go through.”
Manias is expected to be cross examined during the hearing. He will likely be questioned on how he prepared his investigation and why certain information wasn’t entered into the file.
“For example, the piece of evidence, the gun that was used in the case that was sent to the FBI labs. And the report came back but it was never revealed to the defendant or his attorney,” attorney Don Jackson said.
An open records request by Heidelberg's attorney Andy Hale turned up a note card from the FBI that reads: latent fingerprint report negative.
“You have to wonder why the prosecutors kept it away from them. Because that’s exculpatory information, when you think about the fact that allegedly Mr. Heidelberg handled this gun, but there were no prints at all tying him to it, and there was a report to that nature,” Jackson said.
Questions like these may never be answered. But for the first time, Judge Purham will consider the new evidence and testimony. As well as the judge has acknowledged certain constitutional protections were violated. That includes a police report that revealed Officer Manias allegedly eavesdropped on a privileged legal conversation between Heidelberg and his legal counsel, shortly after the murder.
This post-conviction evidentiary hearing is the first time James Clark’s assertions will be considered toward Heidelberg’s guilt or innocence. One of James Clark’s older brothers Matt Clark is still living and appeared in a video deposition in court earlier this month. Clark says his brother James proudly told him in private he “killed a pig,” referring to the sergeant to avenge their brother killed in the FBI raid on the Black Panther leaders in Chicago. James Clark also submitted an affidavit in Will County claiming responsibility for the murder of Sgt. Espinoza in Peoria.
At Tuesday's hearing, Judge Purham has to decide whether or not the newly discovered evidence supports claims that Heidelberg's innocent, or that the constitutional violation affected the outcome of the original trial. If the Judge reaches either of those conclusions, Heidelberg could be a free man, for the first time since 1970.