Grace Asiegbureporter

Mar 14, 2024 | injusticewatch.org | Grace Asiegbu |Grace Asiegbureporter

Ever since she got married in 2012, Ashonta C. Rice has used her given name with her friends, her law clients, and even on many public documents. But last month, Cook County elections officials — and the Illinois First District Appellate Court — ended her candidacy for judge by removing the 45-year-old lawyer’s name from the primary ballot under a law enacted to prevent candidates from duping voters with name changes.

Jan 31, 2024 | injusticewatch.org | Maya Dukmasova |Alejandra Cancino |Grace Asiegbu |Grace Asiegbureporter

Injustice Watch is investigating trends in evictions and building conditions in the private rental market in Chicago. The unprecedented legal protections and financial support offered to landlords and tenants during the Covid-19 pandemic have dwindled just as housing costs have increased. How has this impacted you? We want to connect with more renters in Chicago to help inform and guide our reporting.

Jan 31, 2024 | injusticewatch.org | Grace Asiegbu |Grace Asiegbureporter

A man imprisoned since 1976 in the shooting death of a Chicago police officer could be freed this year after an appellate court panel set aside his 200-year sentence as excessive and found his chances for parole were unfairly denied.

Jan 31, 2024 | injusticewatch.org | Grace Asiegbu |Grace Asiegbureporter

In March, Colleen Peters was in Cook County eviction court for the second time in less than a year. The 52-year-old had lost her job as a United Airlines flight attendant in 2020 and fell behind on rent in the two-bedroom apartment she shares with her 17-year-old daughter in Oak Park. The first eviction case, in July of last year, was dismissed because she had been approved for rental assistance. Like the vast majority of tenants in eviction court, Peters represented herself.

Jan 31, 2024 | injusticewatch.org | Grace Asiegbu |Grace Asiegbureporter

After nearly a half-century behind bars, Ronnie Carrasquillo is learning how to shop for clothes, use a smartphone, and adjust to his freedom after a split-second decision in his distant past cost a police officer his life. “You can’t give back what I did. It’s not fixable,” said Carrasquillo, now 65, in a recent interview from the home of a family member. “I am guilty of firing a weapon, and that weapon was deemed to have killed Officer Loftus.