Jackowiak Law Offices represents several plaintiffs who were the victims of illegal home invasions by police officers from the Chicago Police Department’s infamous Special Operations Section.
These incidents were part of a pattern and practice of gross abuse of power by SOS officers, who essentially ran a robbery ring that entailed illegally entering citizens’ homes; conducting illegal searches of homes, vehicles, and persons; making false arrests; stealing narcotics, jewelry, weapons, and money (hundreds of thousands of dollars); planting drugs; and physically abusing and threatening people. Several members of this city-wide team plead guilty to criminal charges of home invasions, kidnaping, theft, and official misconduct, including former officers Jerome Finnigan and Keith Herrera. These same officers invaded our clients’ homes, in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights.
Jackowiak Law Offices, on behalf of these plaintiffs, were the first civil rights attorneys to obtain documents that were generated during the criminal investigations by the United States Attorney’s Office and Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. The content of these documents are currently under protective order, but may become public when these cases go to trial. The trial attorneys at Jackowiak Law Offices have also taken Finnigan’s deposition on three separate occasions, while he has been incarcerated with the federal Bureau of Prisons. Herrera’s deposition is scheduled to take place in December 2013. These statements are also currently under protective order at the request of the City of Chicago and Finnigan.
Jackowiak Law Offices anticipates uncovering more widespread misconduct as we litigate these civil rights cases. At least one of these cases may be ready for trial in the Spring of 2014.