Illinois victim of torture sentenced to life without parole at age 17 wins early release
Client(s) Hauad, Jaime
Our Jones Day team, working in collaboration with Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic and DLA Piper, helped to secure the early release of Jaime Hauad from prison because he had been subject to torture by Chicago police officers during their investigation of the crimes underlying his conviction. Jaime was sentenced at 17 to mandatory life without parole and has always maintained his innocence. As of his release on January 19, 2018, Jaime had been incarcerated for 21 years. Samantha Woo, Kat Dore, and Deborah Huerta, supervised by Ted Chung, represented Jaime in connection with his Miller v. Alabama re-sentencing hearing in April 2016, securing a reduction of his sentence from life without parole to 70 years. Under day-for-day good time laws in effect when Jaime was originally sentenced, this meant that Jaime would spend a total of 35 years in prison, with a release date in 2032. After this re-sentencing hearing, Samantha and Ted continued to represent Jaime in negotiations with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office’s (CCSAO) Conviction Integrity Unit, which had agreed to investigate Jaime’s long-standing innocence claims. As a result of those negotiations and a finding by the Illinois Torture Inquiry Commission of sufficient evidence of torture to merit judicial review, the CCSAO agreed to Jaime’s immediate release.
People of the State of Illinois v. Jaime Hauad, Case No. 97 CR 16984
