Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied: Prestigious Illinois Law School Joins Battle Of Wrongfully Convicted Alton Man’s Freedom Bid
Posted by David Adams on December 19th, 2024
Could it be true? Could the prayers of one man’s family finally be answered? Is it even possible after over 25 years that relief in the form of solicited help from law students might be the culmination of an ugly story that was born out of lies, deception, and corruption from police and prosecutors who sent an innocent man to prison for 35 years in a murder case where no one could even identify the actual killer? It seem as if the skies opened and God himself spoke, the day I received a phone call from the Pinckneyville Correctional Center where Mr. Jordan is being housed, and was told by Valdez himself of a law school’s interest and involvement in his criminal case.
For over half a decade I was among the minority of those who actually believed in the innocence of Valdez Jordan, who was charged, tried, and subsequently convicted for killing a man name Kenneth Spann one October night back in 1999 during a “crap house” robbery in the small midwestern town of Alton Illinois. The record in his case demonstrates that the police who initially investigated the crime had tunnel vision, and honed in on Mr. Jordan once it was learned that he was among the attendees at the illegal gambling club that infamous night.
For nearly ten years Jordan has written various innocence programs soliciting assistance with correcting his wrongful conviction. At times it seems as if his pleas only fell upon death ears. He even took the extraordinary measure of writing a petition to the Illinois Attorney General exposing corruption in Southern Illinois (Madison County), citing pattern and practices of corruption by law enforcement officials and state prosecutors alike, with supporting documentation. When you take a very close look at the record in his case, his appeal to the state’s top law enforcement official seems justified (read Valdez Jordan’s Petition to Illinois Attorney General).
Some of the state’s own witnesses not only placed other potential perpetrators on the scene that night, but others were identified holding firearms, and were never even questioned by police investigators (or at least that’s what official police reports indicated on the record). Those who did identify other possible subjects had a hard time while being interviewed by the cops, who either intimidated them, their families, or omitted exculpatory statements from their reports and crafted a narrative to pin the killing of Valdez Jordan.
These are just a few of the intriguing details that demonstrate perhaps why the University of Illinois at Springfield (The Illinois Innocence Project) in conjunction with the University of Chicago Law (The Exoneration Project) have officially entered their appearances to represent Mr. Jordan’s Appeal and bid for Freedom. The most prominent aspect of his case could easily be centered around the lack of any evidence what so ever that establishes as fact, that Jordan is guilty of the killing beyond a reasonable doubt.
During interviews that I conducted with Mr. Jordan and others who were there that fateful night in Alton, I was able to disclose important details through blog articles which essentially highlighted new evidence in his case that was never provided to the court, his counsel, nor the trial jury. This new evidence along with other documents that Mr. Jordan obtained over the years while incarcerated, displays a vicious and nasty abuse of power, and offers a very compelling argument demonstrating as a matter of fact and law, that Mr. Jordan never received a fair trial as guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution (Read his disturbing story from a previous article on his case below).
Previously reported by TPC
In the case of Valdez Jordan, it was a routine traffic stop that became very odd when a state cop made a very strange request of Mr. Jordan who was riding down an Alton street when he was pulled over by the officer. The cop asked Jordan why was his car swerving when the cop was behind him? Jordan explained to the officer that he had dropped something and was trying to retrieve it. The state cop ran Jordan’s license and registration, and everything came back clen. The cop advised Jordan that he checked out, that he wasn’t in trouble, but a Madison County Sheriff name Bradley Wells had overheard him calling in his info to police dispatch. According to Mr. Jordan’s account, Wells contacted the state cop and asked him to request Jordan to stay there momentarily because he would like to speak with him. Jordan says he was reluctant, but stayed until Wells arrived.
When Wells pulled up Jordan says he motioned for him to come get inside of his police cruiser, and Jordan got in. Wells then asked Jordan if he knew who killed “Pookie” (Nekemar Pearson). Jordan states that he told Wells that he doesn’t know anything about that, and then Wells allegedly stated “you know who killed “Pookie,” Raven (James Evans) killed “Pookie.” Jordan says Wells asked him about his gang affiliation and he responded “I think you already know the answer to that.” Jordan said the conversation got even stranger, as Wells appeared to solicit him to do something violent to James Evans, because he had allegedly killed his “homeboy,” and was selling drugs on his gang’s turf. Jordan says he kept his conversation with Wells brief and then got out of his cruiser.
Months later Valdez Jordan was locked up in the Madison County jail facing murder charges related to an Alton “Crap house” robbery that resulted in the killing of a man. Jordan says he was called by jail correctional staff for an attorney visit, but when he got to the visiting area, no attorney was present, instead it was Madison County Sheriff Bradley Wells. Jordan alleges that Wells offered to assist him with his current criminal case, stating that he could “make the charges disappear” if he was willing to testify to a certain “scenario” (that essentially fingered James Evans as the person responsible for the killing of Nekemar Pearson). Jordan states he reiterated to Wells that he had no knowledge pertaining to that case, and that he didn’t need his assistance with his own criminal case because he was innocent of the charges. Jordan says that he was called on at least another occasion for an attorney visit in which it was Bradley Wells again. He states that he was requested by Wells to assist in the Pearson killing by providing “false testimony against Evans” for a second time, but only he was given a warning upon leaving that particular meeting with Wells on this occasion. Wells allegedly stated “you’re going to regret not cooperating with me,” Jordan said.
Jordan believes that Well’s parting words to him that day resulted in the recruitment of Demond Spruill to lie and fabricate a confession, allegedly provided by Jordan regarding the killing of Kenneth Spann at the Alton “crap house” robbery for which Jordan is now serving a 35 year sentence. Jordan also believes that arrangements began immediately after he last spoke with Wells at the Madison County jail, because as he entered the cell block Demond Spruill was being escorted to the same area he had just left. Spruill was on his way to the same meeting area for an allege attorney visit. He says he even warned Spruill in passing, that there was no attorney waiting for him, and instead “it was Bradley Wells out there.” Jordan also believes that was probably when the negotiations for Spruill to testify against him were set into motion. Valdez Jordan has always maintained his innocence related to the Kenneth Spann homicide, and has stringently denied having confessed the crime to Spruill or anyone else.
However, Demond Spruill would go on to later testify against Valdez Jordan while alleging that he had confessed to the “crap house” killing. Mr. Jordan believes that one of the main reasons he was fingered for the “crap house” shooting is because he refused to lie for cops who appeared to be desperately trying to develop a murder case against James Evans by any means necessary (official records in the form of a police report that contains Spruill’s initial statements to police, establishes that the tip from a confidential informant in the “crap house” killing that Valdez Jordan was fingered for, ironically originated from Madison County Sheriff Bradley Wells) (Read the Affidavit of Valdez Jordan here).
Mr. Jordan was subsequently convicted of murder in what could be described as another weak Madison County prosecution with a known professional “jail house informant,” Demond Spruill cast as the state’s star witness. Although Spruill’s appearance was highly problematic (which I’ll explain later in the article), there were other witnesses who provided vague, opinionated, circumstantial, and exculpatory testimony that collectively could never establish as a matter of fact that Valdez Jordan, or anyone else for that matter, was actually the gunman beyond a reasonable doubt during the fateful earlier morning hours in Alton. Although Jordan admittedly had been at the “crap house” gambling earlier, he says he left after having “craped out” (lost all his money), and wasn’t present during the robbery that resulted in the killing of Kenneth Spann.
State prosecutor’s however, pitched the theory to the jury that Jordan lost his money and came back armed in a violent rage to rob the place. During the investigation it was established by a volume of eyewitnesses at the “crap house” when the shooting occurred, that the perpetrator had a sheer stocking cap over his face which made it difficult to identify him. At Jordan’s trial no witness testified to observing Valdez Jordan shooting Mr. Spann, hell no one testified to even seeing the actual shooter’s face. Only one witness stated that he saw Valdez Jordan on the street outside of the “crap house” holding a gun after the shooting, but the same witness also testified to seeing others with guns in their hands also (like a man name Jarvis Brown). Some people in Alton familiar with the “crap house” told TPC that “the place had been robbed multiple times in the past,” and “there was a lot of money floating around in there. Everybody in there probably had a damn gun, and more than likely had taken their weapons out to protect themselves when the shooting started,” they said.
That witness who was the sole person, who claim to have seen Valdez Jordan at the scene of the crime immediately after the shooting, spoke on conditions of anonymity, and told TPC that he was “under the influence of mind altering drugs the night of the killing,” which was an important detail related to the case that wasn’t disclosed to the court, Jordan’s defense, nor the jury. It’s important to note here, that the witness didn’t actually see the shooting take place. His testimony only provided an alleged vantage from outside of the “crap house” after the place dispersed with people fleeing the area after the gun fire erupted.
Some witnesses testified that they believe the person who committed the crime was Valdez Jordan because of the sound of the shooter’s voice. One of those witness (Ramando Alexander) who testified and claimed to had been knowing Jordan for about 6 months, a statement that Jordan says was untrue. He denies ever having known the witness. Court documents show that Alexander was also under indictment for an unrelated first degree murder case himself, which the state subsequently reduced to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint (in the killing of Antonio Ray) for his cooperation and testimony against Valdez Jordan. Court trial transcripts show how on cross examination it was revealed that Alexander actually had a deal with prosecutors to testify against Valdez Jordan, and despite a signed agreement being introduced into evidence, Alexander repeatedly denied it (Read the trial testimony of Ramando Alexander here). Also, Alexander’s statement to Alton police was entirely different from his trial testimony, as Valdez Jordan’s lawyer rightfully and thoroughly impeached on cross examination during the trial (Read an excerpt from Ramando Alexander’s statement to Alton Police here).
Another witness (a known drug addict) who testified and also pointed at the sound of Jordan’s voice, was the sister of a former girlfriend of Mr. Jordan. Only in her original statement to police, she says that she knew the voice, but couldn’t put a face with the voice, and then only after Alton police officials suggested Valdez Jordan’s name to her did she suddenly realize who the perpetrator was, and changed her statement to identify the shooter to be, in her opinion Mr. Jordan, according to her testimony. That witness admitted that she had an outstanding arrest warrant for unknown charges squashed by Alton police and the prosecutor’s office in exchange for her testimony against Valdez Jordan. Moreover, Alton police arrested that witness four days before she was to testify in Jordan’s trial.
Her original statement to police placed Jordan at her apartment at the time of the shooting, while in police custody her statement suddenly morphed into placing Jordan at her place after the shooting, and claimed that Jordan told her that he heard the “crap house” had been robbed and he was going to find out more about it (placing doubt on Jordan’s claims of not being on the scene at the time of the crime). Also, arguments from Jordan’s defense counsel in court transcripts from a post trial motion hearing, disclose how the witness was actually held in police custody until the actual trial, and then immediately upon the completion of her testimony, she was released from police custody on her own recognizance with the approval of the state prosecutors (Read an excerpt from Valdez Jordan’s post trial motion hearing here).
Although some witness testimony against Valdez Jordan appear suspect (especially witnesses who suddenly regained their memory after being locked up by police), their accounts (witnesses who identified Jordan as the shooter because in their opinion they thought it was his voice behind the mask, and an admitted drug addict who say he saw Valdez Jordan on the street holding a gun after the shooting) collectively fall short of establishing Mr. Jordan’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The testimony of a state’s witness not only put other people on the street with guns in their hands outside of the “crap house” after the shooting, but that witness even identified Jarvis Brown by name, which raises even more suspicion as to why Alton police never interviewed him during the course of the entire investigation (Read that witness redacted trial testimony here).
However, it was the testimony of Demond Spruill who provided the most culpable testimony against Jordan, claiming he confessed and made other statements that more than likely weighed heavily on the trial jury in determining their verdict, but as I eluded to earlier in the article, Spruill’s appearance was highly problematic. During pretrial motions Mr. Jordan’s counsel stated that his defense team was ready for trial, but Mr. Jordan wasn’t. Judge Charles Romani who heard the arguments addressed Mr. Jordan directly to ascertain why he wasn’t prepared for trial. Jordan told the court that their were witnesses who could testify for his defense who had not been interviewed by his lawyers and hadn’t been summoned for trial. He also expressed exception to the anticipated testimony of Demond Spruill who had testified in a volume of other murder cases. Judge Romani assured Mr. Jordan that his witnesses would be contacted and that during the trial, everyone would learn about Demond Spruill. “I even know about Demond Spruill,” the judge said. The trial proceeded as scheduled and the trial resulted in Mr. Jordan being convicted of murder (Read an excerpt from Valdez Jordan pretrial motion hearing here).
However, during a post trial motion hearing, Mr. Jordan’s lawyers requested that the verdict in the case be vacated, citing that there was insufficient evidence establishing that Mr. Jordan committed the crime, and also expressed concern of a state’s witness being released from police custody immediately after testifying in the trial. His lawyers also argued that Demond Spruill was in fact acting as an agent of the state when he held conversations with Mr. Jordan at the Madison County jail. They argue that as a defendant, Mr. Jordan had a right to have his legal counsel present during such conversations, and that the dialogue with Spruill without his counsel present in fact violated Mr. Jordan’s 6th amendment rights under the United States Constitution (meaning Spruill’s testimony shouldn’t have been entered into the record) (Read Valdez Jordan’s Post Trial arguments here).
State prosecutor Keith Jensen countered the defense’s motion by claiming that “no one sent Mr. Spruill in their to speak with Mr. Jordan. They met on the cell block and that’s where the conversations took place your honor,” Jensen stated. Judge Romani eventually ruled that there was no evidence presented during the trial that establishes that Demond Spruill was acting as an arm of the prosecution, and the defense’s motions were denied, essentially allowing the guilty verdict to stand. However, official court documents related to this case that were acquired by Mr. Jordan reveal some alarming facts. When prosecutor Jensen claimed in open court that “no one sent Mr. Spruill in there to speak with Mr. Jordan,” he was in fact lying and the judge knew it. TPC has obtained documents that disclose the use of eavesdropping devices in the case in which Demond Spruill participated in at the behest of Alton police. Those documents are in fact signed by Alton police detectives, a police supervisor, state prosecutors, Demond Spruill and Judge Charles Romani himself. Although prosecutor Jensen lied in open court, it really wasn’t that shocking, as official court documents reveal how Keith Jensen has repeatedly lied in open court during the prosecution of at least four defendant’s cases (Evans, Greer, Jordan, and Ewing).
During the pretrial motion hearing where Mr. Jordan expressed concern regarding the anticipated testimony of Demond Spruill, and Judge Romani stated that “even I know about Demond Spruill,” the obvious conflict of interest should have been recognized by the judge, who should have immediately recused himself from hearing the trial. Romani’s ruling pertaining to defense post trial motions on Spruill becomes extremely problematic, because his ruling seems to completely side step Jensen’s denial of Spruill’s obvious participation in a police and state prosecution investigation, and the fact that it was Judge Romani himself who actually signed the applications and approved the request for the use of eavesdropping devices in the case, could easily be interpreted as complicity in denying the defendant Valdez Jordan the right to a fair and impartial trial under the law. It appears that the state along side judge Charles Romani attempted to deliberately conceal the fact that Spruill had participated in eavesdropping activities which targeted Valdez Jordan, at the behest of state prosecutors (Read the official Eavesdropping documents here).
Additionally, the witnesses that Mr. Jordan told Judge Romani that he believed could testify on behalf of his defense, were never called during the trial, appeared to be no shows, and the defense counsel never requested a continuance or asked for time to present those witnesses before the jury. TPC has since conducted multiple interviews with one of those witnesses and learned that she (Monique Kimble) did in fact appear at the courthouse on the day of the trial, was placed in a room to await what she thought would be her opportunity to testify at the trial, but she was allegedly told by Alton police detective Shane Gibbs (the same cop who interviewed her on the morning of the homicide at the “crap house”) that her testimony would not be needed, and that she could go home. Ms. Kimble stated that she was “confused” regarding having been told her testimony wouldn’t be needed, but she says she left because she was intimidated by the police. She also told TPC that she had previously had several arguments with the same officer (Gibbs) during the initial investigation into the “crap house” robbery when she gave her eyewitness account of the shooting).
Ms. Kimble went on to say that she told Det, Gibbs of the Alton police that the shooter wasn’t Valdez Jordan, and that she thought the perpetrator looked like “Jarvis Brown” or maybe another man they called “Chuckie.” She said that Gibbs kept trying to get her to change her statement, and that the things Gibbs wrote down weren’t what she had told him. So, she says they had several arguments back and forth. She also claims that she felt intimidated by Gibbs and believed that Alton police had been harassing her son. She apparently was so fearful, that she eventually moved to Missouri away from Alton a short time after the murder trial took place.
Her eyewitness account which very well may have been impactful, was never heard by Valdez Jordan’s trial jury, as her statements corroborated the testimony of a witness who spoke on conditions of anonymity, and a statement given to Alton police by Demond Spruill, who all also placed a man name “Jarvis Brown” on the street outside of the “crap house” immediately after the shooting. Ms. Kimble’s sister (Pamela Burgess) was one of a few witnesses who actually experienced close direct interaction with the perpetrator. Ms. Burgess said she testified at the trial after receiving a subpoena. She told TPC that despite Alton police detective Cooley trying to get her to say that the shooter was Valdez Jordan, she testified to the fact that “the shooter was rude, very disrespectful toward women, calling them bitches, and had pointed the gun directly in her face,” but she couldn’t tell if the perpetrator was Valdez Jordan. She also said that she never told the police this, but that she was close enough to him to see “the complexion of his skin (light skin) and that he appeared to be much lighter than Valdez Jordan,” she said.
After conducting interviews with various witnesses, reviewing various official court documents and other valuable information related to this case, TPC has discovered extremely disturbing information regarding “Jarvis Brown.” It was learned that Brown actually lived on old Brittney Court (now Maple Manor) off Washington Avenue in Alton for a few years around the time of the “crap house” killing. Brown who lived with and dated a much older woman name Robin (a female cousin of Monique Kimble and Pamela Burgess) was a teenager known to rob people within the community, and had relocated to the state of Indiana a few years after the Kenneth Spann murder. His close relationship to Ms. Kimble’s Cousin afforded her the advantage of possibly identifying him as the “crap house” shooter, which she actually did in her police statement, but they apparently ignored her account, left it out of the report, and used intimidation tactics to suppress her statement from the jury.
Now, some of Brown’s violent behavior has been discovered through official records from the U.S. District Court of Southern Indiana in which they even sought the death penalty for Brown (Read Jarvis Brown’s federal court Death Penalty document here). Brown along with his associates engaged in a crime spree in which they were robbing “gambling houses” (the exact kind of illegal after hour and covert establishments like the Alton “crap house”) and an article on the Federal Bureau of Investigations website potentially brings new light pertaining to Brown’s possible involvement in the Alton “crap house” robbery to bare. In fact, in 2009 Jarvis Brown was convicted in a federal criminal case that was the result of a coordinated state and federal law enforcement investigation, including agents and officers from the Indianapolis Police Department Robbery/Homicide Unit, the Evansville Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Evansville Safe Streets Task Force.
Brown plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, one count of interference with commerce by threats or violence; three counts of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime or crime of violence resulting in death, and one count of tampering with a witness resulting in death. These revelations in relationship to the trial and conviction of Valdez Jordan are simply incredulous when considering the nature of the details entailed in Brown’s charges in the case, and especially considering the fact that various witnesses either testified to seeing Brown on the street in Alton outside of the “crap house” after the shooting, or believed that the shooter looked like him is extremely compelling towards Brown’s potential culpability to having been the actual shooter that night in Alton.
In the Indiana case Brown was charged with a 2005 Indianapolis to Evansville crime spree that included Brown and several associates, which left four persons dead. Brown’s group of heavily armed and violent cocaine and marijuana dealers operating in Indianapolis went on a crime spree that ultimately resulted in a series of approximately 13 drug dealer robberies, three attempted gambling house robberies, approximately 13 shootings, three gun murders, four gun assaults wherein the victims sustained permanent and life threatening injuries and one witness murder.
In addition to Indianapolis, where most of the incidents took place, Brown, the ringleader of the group, together with several associates also traveled to Evansville, and committed one of the robbery/murders. The weapons used by the group included a Tech-9 machine pistol, SKS assault rifles, shotguns and various handguns. The bloody trail came to an end on January 1, 2006, after Brown and several of his associates within a 24 hour period committed the murder and attempted murder of two individuals in Indianapolis. They were subsequently apprehended by officers of the Indianapolis Police Department after a high speed car chase through the near east side of the city. Jarvis Brown was subsequently sentenced to 5 consecutive life sentences plus 20 years, and is now being held at the United States Penitentiary Pollock, in Pollock Louisiana.
When we consider the statements given to police by witnesses on the scene around the time of the Alton “crap house” shooting, such as Monique Kimble, Gardell L. Ballinger, who both placed Jarvis Brown at the crime scene. (Read Gardell Ballinger’s statement to police here), it’s just difficult not to imagine that if Alton police had simply followed up on this particular lead in the case, then its quite possible that lives may not have been lost. That’s of course if Brown was actually the perpetrator who killed Kenneth Spann during the “crap house” robbery, and not Valdez Jordan as Alton Police and state prosecutors allege. TPC has learned that it was rumored and widely believed on the streets of Alton shortly after the killing of Kenneth Spann, that Jarvis Brown was in fact the person who commit the crime for which Mr. Jordan took the fall for, and some eyewitnesses on the scene apparently told Alton police as much (one even claim he saw Brown with a gun in his hand). Hell, even the state’s star “professional snitch” Demond Spruill gave police a statement that put Brown on the street outside the “crap house” after the shooting.
Spruill’s mentioning of Brown in a police report is highly suspicious though, as it was hearsay which he claimed that Jarvis Brown and a man name Kareem Hamilton gave him the details of what happened at the “crap house” the previous day, and appears to only serve as an explanation of his (Brown’s) presence on the street during those early morning hours. It was a cleverly plotted out statement orchestrated by Alton police that some believe was to rebut the constant mentioning of Brown’s presence on the street at the time of the crime by eyewitnesses who knew him as a “stick up” man, known to rob people in the city of Alton. Besides, even one of the state’s witnesses testified during the trial that he also saw Jarvis Brown with a gun in his hand on the street after the shooting.
Besides, the hearsay comments that Spruill gave to police doesn’t align with the very detailed account of witnesses inside of the “crap house” who stared down the perpetrator’s gun in fear for their lives. Spruill’s recounting of Valdez Jordan’s allege confession to him is in fact contradictory to the statement of Gardell Ballinger, Jarvis Brown’s allege statement, and the witness who spoke on anonymity, and were either inside of the “crap house” or was on the street outside and only saw the aftermath of the shooting (Read Demond Spruill’s statement to police here). Even more disturbing is the fact that Alton police puts Jarvis Brown’s allege statement on record via their “professional snitch” Spruill. Other witnesses of the crime told TPC that Alton Police drove to St Louis Missouri to get them to come in and give a statement, but despite the constant mentioning of Jarvis Brown (who resided a short distance away in Alton) being on the street after the shooting, to this day he has never been questioned by police officials, and that alone is an extraordinary element of this tragic story that is simply incredulous.
The accounts of various witnesses apparently fell upon death ears, and people say they believe that once police discovered that Valdez Jordan was at the “crap house” at some point on the day of the shooting, the cops developed tunnel vision and focused in on Jordan who they had decided was going to take the blame for this crime (Read the FBI article on Jarvis Brown Here).
(continued)…
Many of the details that are disclosed in this article stem from the research of court records and interviewing witnesses. Some of the information could easily have been obtained through basic rudimentary investigative work. It’s extremely said that so much information fell through the cracks and now after over 25 years of being incarcerated, the facts of exactly what happened may finally be brought to the surface. However, even if law students can assist in freeing an innocent man from prison, an even greater tragedy persist, as the actual killer has never been brought to justice.
We should pray for the redemption of one man’s plight as well as the family and friends of Kenneth Spann who lost his life in a senseless act of violence. The injustice of the American criminal justice system is simply a very sad commentary. “Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied.”
University of Illinois at Springfield
University of Chicago Law
The People’s Champion Blog, I’m Crime Writer and Blogger David Adams
Could it be true? Could the prayers of one man’s family finally be answered? Is it even possible after over 25 years that relief in the form of solicited help from law students might be the culmination of an ugly story that was born out of lies, deception, and corruption from police and prosecutors who sent an innocent man to prison for 35 years in a murder case where no one could even identify the actual killer? It seem as if the skies opened and God himself spoke, the day I received a phone call from the Pinckneyville Correctional Center where Mr. Jordan is being housed, and was told by Valdez himself of a law school’s interest and involvement in his criminal case.
For over half a decade I was among the minority of those who actually believed in the innocence of Valdez Jordan, who was charged, tried, and subsequently convicted for killing a man name Kenneth Spann one October night back in 1999 during a “crap house” robbery in the small midwestern town of Alton Illinois. The record in his case demonstrates that the police who initially investigated the crime had tunnel vision, and honed in on Mr. Jordan once it was learned that he was among the attendees at the illegal gambling club that infamous night.
For nearly ten years Jordan has written various innocence programs soliciting assistance with correcting his wrongful conviction. At times it seems as if his pleas only fell upon death ears. He even took the extraordinary measure of writing a petition to the Illinois Attorney General exposing corruption in Southern Illinois (Madison County), citing pattern and practices of corruption by law enforcement officials and state prosecutors alike, with supporting documentation. When you take a very close look at the record in his case, his appeal to the state’s top law enforcement official seems justified (read Valdez Jordan’s Petition to Illinois Attorney General).
Some of the state’s own witnesses not only placed other potential perpetrators on the scene that night, but others were identified holding firearms, and were never even questioned by police investigators (or at least that’s what official police reports indicated on the record). Those who did identify other possible subjects had a hard time while being interviewed by the cops, who either intimidated them, their families, or omitted exculpatory statements from their reports and crafted a narrative to pin the killing of Valdez Jordan.
These are just a few of the intriguing details that demonstrate perhaps why the University of Illinois at Springfield (The Illinois Innocence Project) in conjunction with the University of Chicago Law (The Exoneration Project) have officially entered their appearances to represent Mr. Jordan’s Appeal and bid for Freedom. The most prominent aspect of his case could easily be centered around the lack of any evidence what so ever that establishes as fact, that Jordan is guilty of the killing beyond a reasonable doubt.
During interviews that I conducted with Mr. Jordan and others who were there that fateful night in Alton, I was able to disclose important details through blog articles which essentially highlighted new evidence in his case that was never provided to the court, his counsel, nor the trial jury. This new evidence along with other documents that Mr. Jordan obtained over the years while incarcerated, displays a vicious and nasty abuse of power, and offers a very compelling argument demonstrating as a matter of fact and law, that Mr. Jordan never received a fair trial as guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution (Read his disturbing story from a previous article on his case below).
Previously reported by TPC
In the case of Valdez Jordan, it was a routine traffic stop that became very odd when a state cop made a very strange request of Mr. Jordan who was riding down an Alton street when he was pulled over by the officer. The cop asked Jordan why was his car swerving when the cop was behind him? Jordan explained to the officer that he had dropped something and was trying to retrieve it. The state cop ran Jordan’s license and registration, and everything came back clen. The cop advised Jordan that he checked out, that he wasn’t in trouble, but a Madison County Sheriff name Bradley Wells had overheard him calling in his info to police dispatch. According to Mr. Jordan’s account, Wells contacted the state cop and asked him to request Jordan to stay there momentarily because he would like to speak with him. Jordan says he was reluctant, but stayed until Wells arrived.
When Wells pulled up Jordan says he motioned for him to come get inside of his police cruiser, and Jordan got in. Wells then asked Jordan if he knew who killed “Pookie” (Nekemar Pearson). Jordan states that he told Wells that he doesn’t know anything about that, and then Wells allegedly stated “you know who killed “Pookie,” Raven (James Evans) killed “Pookie.” Jordan says Wells asked him about his gang affiliation and he responded “I think you already know the answer to that.” Jordan said the conversation got even stranger, as Wells appeared to solicit him to do something violent to James Evans, because he had allegedly killed his “homeboy,” and was selling drugs on his gang’s turf. Jordan says he kept his conversation with Wells brief and then got out of his cruiser.
Months later Valdez Jordan was locked up in the Madison County jail facing murder charges related to an Alton “Crap house” robbery that resulted in the killing of a man. Jordan says he was called by jail correctional staff for an attorney visit, but when he got to the visiting area, no attorney was present, instead it was Madison County Sheriff Bradley Wells. Jordan alleges that Wells offered to assist him with his current criminal case, stating that he could “make the charges disappear” if he was willing to testify to a certain “scenario” (that essentially fingered James Evans as the person responsible for the killing of Nekemar Pearson). Jordan states he reiterated to Wells that he had no knowledge pertaining to that case, and that he didn’t need his assistance with his own criminal case because he was innocent of the charges. Jordan says that he was called on at least another occasion for an attorney visit in which it was Bradley Wells again. He states that he was requested by Wells to assist in the Pearson killing by providing “false testimony against Evans” for a second time, but only he was given a warning upon leaving that particular meeting with Wells on this occasion. Wells allegedly stated “you’re going to regret not cooperating with me,” Jordan said.
Jordan believes that Well’s parting words to him that day resulted in the recruitment of Demond Spruill to lie and fabricate a confession, allegedly provided by Jordan regarding the killing of Kenneth Spann at the Alton “crap house” robbery for which Jordan is now serving a 35 year sentence. Jordan also believes that arrangements began immediately after he last spoke with Wells at the Madison County jail, because as he entered the cell block Demond Spruill was being escorted to the same area he had just left. Spruill was on his way to the same meeting area for an allege attorney visit. He says he even warned Spruill in passing, that there was no attorney waiting for him, and instead “it was Bradley Wells out there.” Jordan also believes that was probably when the negotiations for Spruill to testify against him were set into motion. Valdez Jordan has always maintained his innocence related to the Kenneth Spann homicide, and has stringently denied having confessed the crime to Spruill or anyone else.
However, Demond Spruill would go on to later testify against Valdez Jordan while alleging that he had confessed to the “crap house” killing. Mr. Jordan believes that one of the main reasons he was fingered for the “crap house” shooting is because he refused to lie for cops who appeared to be desperately trying to develop a murder case against James Evans by any means necessary (official records in the form of a police report that contains Spruill’s initial statements to police, establishes that the tip from a confidential informant in the “crap house” killing that Valdez Jordan was fingered for, ironically originated from Madison County Sheriff Bradley Wells) (Read the Affidavit of Valdez Jordan here).
Mr. Jordan was subsequently convicted of murder in what could be described as another weak Madison County prosecution with a known professional “jail house informant,” Demond Spruill cast as the state’s star witness. Although Spruill’s appearance was highly problematic (which I’ll explain later in the article), there were other witnesses who provided vague, opinionated, circumstantial, and exculpatory testimony that collectively could never establish as a matter of fact that Valdez Jordan, or anyone else for that matter, was actually the gunman beyond a reasonable doubt during the fateful earlier morning hours in Alton. Although Jordan admittedly had been at the “crap house” gambling earlier, he says he left after having “craped out” (lost all his money), and wasn’t present during the robbery that resulted in the killing of Kenneth Spann.
State prosecutor’s however, pitched the theory to the jury that Jordan lost his money and came back armed in a violent rage to rob the place. During the investigation it was established by a volume of eyewitnesses at the “crap house” when the shooting occurred, that the perpetrator had a sheer stocking cap over his face which made it difficult to identify him. At Jordan’s trial no witness testified to observing Valdez Jordan shooting Mr. Spann, hell no one testified to even seeing the actual shooter’s face. Only one witness stated that he saw Valdez Jordan on the street outside of the “crap house” holding a gun after the shooting, but the same witness also testified to seeing others with guns in their hands also (like a man name Jarvis Brown). Some people in Alton familiar with the “crap house” told TPC that “the place had been robbed multiple times in the past,” and “there was a lot of money floating around in there. Everybody in there probably had a damn gun, and more than likely had taken their weapons out to protect themselves when the shooting started,” they said.
That witness who was the sole person, who claim to have seen Valdez Jordan at the scene of the crime immediately after the shooting, spoke on conditions of anonymity, and told TPC that he was “under the influence of mind altering drugs the night of the killing,” which was an important detail related to the case that wasn’t disclosed to the court, Jordan’s defense, nor the jury. It’s important to note here, that the witness didn’t actually see the shooting take place. His testimony only provided an alleged vantage from outside of the “crap house” after the place dispersed with people fleeing the area after the gun fire erupted.
Some witnesses testified that they believe the person who committed the crime was Valdez Jordan because of the sound of the shooter’s voice. One of those witness (Ramando Alexander) who testified and claimed to had been knowing Jordan for about 6 months, a statement that Jordan says was untrue. He denies ever having known the witness. Court documents show that Alexander was also under indictment for an unrelated first degree murder case himself, which the state subsequently reduced to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint (in the killing of Antonio Ray) for his cooperation and testimony against Valdez Jordan. Court trial transcripts show how on cross examination it was revealed that Alexander actually had a deal with prosecutors to testify against Valdez Jordan, and despite a signed agreement being introduced into evidence, Alexander repeatedly denied it (Read the trial testimony of Ramando Alexander here). Also, Alexander’s statement to Alton police was entirely different from his trial testimony, as Valdez Jordan’s lawyer rightfully and thoroughly impeached on cross examination during the trial (Read an excerpt from Ramando Alexander’s statement to Alton Police here).
Another witness (a known drug addict) who testified and also pointed at the sound of Jordan’s voice, was the sister of a former girlfriend of Mr. Jordan. Only in her original statement to police, she says that she knew the voice, but couldn’t put a face with the voice, and then only after Alton police officials suggested Valdez Jordan’s name to her did she suddenly realize who the perpetrator was, and changed her statement to identify the shooter to be, in her opinion Mr. Jordan, according to her testimony. That witness admitted that she had an outstanding arrest warrant for unknown charges squashed by Alton police and the prosecutor’s office in exchange for her testimony against Valdez Jordan. Moreover, Alton police arrested that witness four days before she was to testify in Jordan’s trial.
Her original statement to police placed Jordan at her apartment at the time of the shooting, while in police custody her statement suddenly morphed into placing Jordan at her place after the shooting, and claimed that Jordan told her that he heard the “crap house” had been robbed and he was going to find out more about it (placing doubt on Jordan’s claims of not being on the scene at the time of the crime). Also, arguments from Jordan’s defense counsel in court transcripts from a post trial motion hearing, disclose how the witness was actually held in police custody until the actual trial, and then immediately upon the completion of her testimony, she was released from police custody on her own recognizance with the approval of the state prosecutors (Read an excerpt from Valdez Jordan’s post trial motion hearing here).
Although some witness testimony against Valdez Jordan appear suspect (especially witnesses who suddenly regained their memory after being locked up by police), their accounts (witnesses who identified Jordan as the shooter because in their opinion they thought it was his voice behind the mask, and an admitted drug addict who say he saw Valdez Jordan on the street holding a gun after the shooting) collectively fall short of establishing Mr. Jordan’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The testimony of a state’s witness not only put other people on the street with guns in their hands outside of the “crap house” after the shooting, but that witness even identified Jarvis Brown by name, which raises even more suspicion as to why Alton police never interviewed him during the course of the entire investigation (Read that witness redacted trial testimony here).
However, it was the testimony of Demond Spruill who provided the most culpable testimony against Jordan, claiming he confessed and made other statements that more than likely weighed heavily on the trial jury in determining their verdict, but as I eluded to earlier in the article, Spruill’s appearance was highly problematic. During pretrial motions Mr. Jordan’s counsel stated that his defense team was ready for trial, but Mr. Jordan wasn’t. Judge Charles Romani who heard the arguments addressed Mr. Jordan directly to ascertain why he wasn’t prepared for trial. Jordan told the court that their were witnesses who could testify for his defense who had not been interviewed by his lawyers and hadn’t been summoned for trial. He also expressed exception to the anticipated testimony of Demond Spruill who had testified in a volume of other murder cases. Judge Romani assured Mr. Jordan that his witnesses would be contacted and that during the trial, everyone would learn about Demond Spruill. “I even know about Demond Spruill,” the judge said. The trial proceeded as scheduled and the trial resulted in Mr. Jordan being convicted of murder (Read an excerpt from Valdez Jordan pretrial motion hearing here).
However, during a post trial motion hearing, Mr. Jordan’s lawyers requested that the verdict in the case be vacated, citing that there was insufficient evidence establishing that Mr. Jordan committed the crime, and also expressed concern of a state’s witness being released from police custody immediately after testifying in the trial. His lawyers also argued that Demond Spruill was in fact acting as an agent of the state when he held conversations with Mr. Jordan at the Madison County jail. They argue that as a defendant, Mr. Jordan had a right to have his legal counsel present during such conversations, and that the dialogue with Spruill without his counsel present in fact violated Mr. Jordan’s 6th amendment rights under the United States Constitution (meaning Spruill’s testimony shouldn’t have been entered into the record) (Read Valdez Jordan’s Post Trial arguments here).
State prosecutor Keith Jensen countered the defense’s motion by claiming that “no one sent Mr. Spruill in their to speak with Mr. Jordan. They met on the cell block and that’s where the conversations took place your honor,” Jensen stated. Judge Romani eventually ruled that there was no evidence presented during the trial that establishes that Demond Spruill was acting as an arm of the prosecution, and the defense’s motions were denied, essentially allowing the guilty verdict to stand. However, official court documents related to this case that were acquired by Mr. Jordan reveal some alarming facts. When prosecutor Jensen claimed in open court that “no one sent Mr. Spruill in there to speak with Mr. Jordan,” he was in fact lying and the judge knew it. TPC has obtained documents that disclose the use of eavesdropping devices in the case in which Demond Spruill participated in at the behest of Alton police. Those documents are in fact signed by Alton police detectives, a police supervisor, state prosecutors, Demond Spruill and Judge Charles Romani himself. Although prosecutor Jensen lied in open court, it really wasn’t that shocking, as official court documents reveal how Keith Jensen has repeatedly lied in open court during the prosecution of at least four defendant’s cases (Evans, Greer, Jordan, and Ewing).
During the pretrial motion hearing where Mr. Jordan expressed concern regarding the anticipated testimony of Demond Spruill, and Judge Romani stated that “even I know about Demond Spruill,” the obvious conflict of interest should have been recognized by the judge, who should have immediately recused himself from hearing the trial. Romani’s ruling pertaining to defense post trial motions on Spruill becomes extremely problematic, because his ruling seems to completely side step Jensen’s denial of Spruill’s obvious participation in a police and state prosecution investigation, and the fact that it was Judge Romani himself who actually signed the applications and approved the request for the use of eavesdropping devices in the case, could easily be interpreted as complicity in denying the defendant Valdez Jordan the right to a fair and impartial trial under the law. It appears that the state along side judge Charles Romani attempted to deliberately conceal the fact that Spruill had participated in eavesdropping activities which targeted Valdez Jordan, at the behest of state prosecutors (Read the official Eavesdropping documents here).
Additionally, the witnesses that Mr. Jordan told Judge Romani that he believed could testify on behalf of his defense, were never called during the trial, appeared to be no shows, and the defense counsel never requested a continuance or asked for time to present those witnesses before the jury. TPC has since conducted multiple interviews with one of those witnesses and learned that she (Monique Kimble) did in fact appear at the courthouse on the day of the trial, was placed in a room to await what she thought would be her opportunity to testify at the trial, but she was allegedly told by Alton police detective Shane Gibbs (the same cop who interviewed her on the morning of the homicide at the “crap house”) that her testimony would not be needed, and that she could go home. Ms. Kimble stated that she was “confused” regarding having been told her testimony wouldn’t be needed, but she says she left because she was intimidated by the police. She also told TPC that she had previously had several arguments with the same officer (Gibbs) during the initial investigation into the “crap house” robbery when she gave her eyewitness account of the shooting).
Ms. Kimble went on to say that she told Det, Gibbs of the Alton police that the shooter wasn’t Valdez Jordan, and that she thought the perpetrator looked like “Jarvis Brown” or maybe another man they called “Chuckie.” She said that Gibbs kept trying to get her to change her statement, and that the things Gibbs wrote down weren’t what she had told him. So, she says they had several arguments back and forth. She also claims that she felt intimidated by Gibbs and believed that Alton police had been harassing her son. She apparently was so fearful, that she eventually moved to Missouri away from Alton a short time after the murder trial took place.
Her eyewitness account which very well may have been impactful, was never heard by Valdez Jordan’s trial jury, as her statements corroborated the testimony of a witness who spoke on conditions of anonymity, and a statement given to Alton police by Demond Spruill, who all also placed a man name “Jarvis Brown” on the street outside of the “crap house” immediately after the shooting. Ms. Kimble’s sister (Pamela Burgess) was one of a few witnesses who actually experienced close direct interaction with the perpetrator. Ms. Burgess said she testified at the trial after receiving a subpoena. She told TPC that despite Alton police detective Cooley trying to get her to say that the shooter was Valdez Jordan, she testified to the fact that “the shooter was rude, very disrespectful toward women, calling them bitches, and had pointed the gun directly in her face,” but she couldn’t tell if the perpetrator was Valdez Jordan. She also said that she never told the police this, but that she was close enough to him to see “the complexion of his skin (light skin) and that he appeared to be much lighter than Valdez Jordan,” she said.
After conducting interviews with various witnesses, reviewing various official court documents and other valuable information related to this case, TPC has discovered extremely disturbing information regarding “Jarvis Brown.” It was learned that Brown actually lived on old Brittney Court (now Maple Manor) off Washington Avenue in Alton for a few years around the time of the “crap house” killing. Brown who lived with and dated a much older woman name Robin (a female cousin of Monique Kimble and Pamela Burgess) was a teenager known to rob people within the community, and had relocated to the state of Indiana a few years after the Kenneth Spann murder. His close relationship to Ms. Kimble’s Cousin afforded her the advantage of possibly identifying him as the “crap house” shooter, which she actually did in her police statement, but they apparently ignored her account, left it out of the report, and used intimidation tactics to suppress her statement from the jury.
Now, some of Brown’s violent behavior has been discovered through official records from the U.S. District Court of Southern Indiana in which they even sought the death penalty for Brown (Read Jarvis Brown’s federal court Death Penalty document here). Brown along with his associates engaged in a crime spree in which they were robbing “gambling houses” (the exact kind of illegal after hour and covert establishments like the Alton “crap house”) and an article on the Federal Bureau of Investigations website potentially brings new light pertaining to Brown’s possible involvement in the Alton “crap house” robbery to bare. In fact, in 2009 Jarvis Brown was convicted in a federal criminal case that was the result of a coordinated state and federal law enforcement investigation, including agents and officers from the Indianapolis Police Department Robbery/Homicide Unit, the Evansville Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Evansville Safe Streets Task Force.
Brown plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, one count of interference with commerce by threats or violence; three counts of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime or crime of violence resulting in death, and one count of tampering with a witness resulting in death. These revelations in relationship to the trial and conviction of Valdez Jordan are simply incredulous when considering the nature of the details entailed in Brown’s charges in the case, and especially considering the fact that various witnesses either testified to seeing Brown on the street in Alton outside of the “crap house” after the shooting, or believed that the shooter looked like him is extremely compelling towards Brown’s potential culpability to having been the actual shooter that night in Alton.
In the Indiana case Brown was charged with a 2005 Indianapolis to Evansville crime spree that included Brown and several associates, which left four persons dead. Brown’s group of heavily armed and violent cocaine and marijuana dealers operating in Indianapolis went on a crime spree that ultimately resulted in a series of approximately 13 drug dealer robberies, three attempted gambling house robberies, approximately 13 shootings, three gun murders, four gun assaults wherein the victims sustained permanent and life threatening injuries and one witness murder.
In addition to Indianapolis, where most of the incidents took place, Brown, the ringleader of the group, together with several associates also traveled to Evansville, and committed one of the robbery/murders. The weapons used by the group included a Tech-9 machine pistol, SKS assault rifles, shotguns and various handguns. The bloody trail came to an end on January 1, 2006, after Brown and several of his associates within a 24 hour period committed the murder and attempted murder of two individuals in Indianapolis. They were subsequently apprehended by officers of the Indianapolis Police Department after a high speed car chase through the near east side of the city. Jarvis Brown was subsequently sentenced to 5 consecutive life sentences plus 20 years, and is now being held at the United States Penitentiary Pollock, in Pollock Louisiana.
When we consider the statements given to police by witnesses on the scene around the time of the Alton “crap house” shooting, such as Monique Kimble, Gardell L. Ballinger, who both placed Jarvis Brown at the crime scene. (Read Gardell Ballinger’s statement to police here), it’s just difficult not to imagine that if Alton police had simply followed up on this particular lead in the case, then its quite possible that lives may not have been lost. That’s of course if Brown was actually the perpetrator who killed Kenneth Spann during the “crap house” robbery, and not Valdez Jordan as Alton Police and state prosecutors allege. TPC has learned that it was rumored and widely believed on the streets of Alton shortly after the killing of Kenneth Spann, that Jarvis Brown was in fact the person who commit the crime for which Mr. Jordan took the fall for, and some eyewitnesses on the scene apparently told Alton police as much (one even claim he saw Brown with a gun in his hand). Hell, even the state’s star “professional snitch” Demond Spruill gave police a statement that put Brown on the street outside the “crap house” after the shooting.
Spruill’s mentioning of Brown in a police report is highly suspicious though, as it was hearsay which he claimed that Jarvis Brown and a man name Kareem Hamilton gave him the details of what happened at the “crap house” the previous day, and appears to only serve as an explanation of his (Brown’s) presence on the street during those early morning hours. It was a cleverly plotted out statement orchestrated by Alton police that some believe was to rebut the constant mentioning of Brown’s presence on the street at the time of the crime by eyewitnesses who knew him as a “stick up” man, known to rob people in the city of Alton. Besides, even one of the state’s witnesses testified during the trial that he also saw Jarvis Brown with a gun in his hand on the street after the shooting.
Besides, the hearsay comments that Spruill gave to police doesn’t align with the very detailed account of witnesses inside of the “crap house” who stared down the perpetrator’s gun in fear for their lives. Spruill’s recounting of Valdez Jordan’s allege confession to him is in fact contradictory to the statement of Gardell Ballinger, Jarvis Brown’s allege statement, and the witness who spoke on anonymity, and were either inside of the “crap house” or was on the street outside and only saw the aftermath of the shooting (Read Demond Spruill’s statement to police here). Even more disturbing is the fact that Alton police puts Jarvis Brown’s allege statement on record via their “professional snitch” Spruill. Other witnesses of the crime told TPC that Alton Police drove to St Louis Missouri to get them to come in and give a statement, but despite the constant mentioning of Jarvis Brown (who resided a short distance away in Alton) being on the street after the shooting, to this day he has never been questioned by police officials, and that alone is an extraordinary element of this tragic story that is simply incredulous.
The accounts of various witnesses apparently fell upon death ears, and people say they believe that once police discovered that Valdez Jordan was at the “crap house” at some point on the day of the shooting, the cops developed tunnel vision and focused in on Jordan who they had decided was going to take the blame for this crime (Read the FBI article on Jarvis Brown Here).
(continued)…
Many of the details that are disclosed in this article stem from the research of court records and interviewing witnesses. Some of the information could easily have been obtained through basic rudimentary investigative work. It’s extremely said that so much information fell through the cracks and now after over 25 years of being incarcerated, the facts of exactly what happened may finally be brought to the surface. However, even if law students can assist in freeing an innocent man from prison, an even greater tragedy persist, as the actual killer has never been brought to justice.
We should pray for the redemption of one man’s plight as well as the family and friends of Kenneth Spann who lost his life in a senseless act of violence. The injustice of the American criminal justice system is simply a very sad commentary. “Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied.”
University of Illinois at Springfield
University of Chicago Law
The People’s Champion Blog, I’m Crime Writer and Blogger David Adams
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