A corrupt former Chicago cop serving an 18-year prison sentence for a lengthy drug conspiracy wants to put two federal prosecutors who helped put him away on the witness stand as he defends himself in a lawsuit set for trial next week.
Refugio Ruiz-Cortez sued ex-cop Glenn Lewellen in 2011, months after federal authorities first charged Lewellen and accused him of giving false testimony at Ruiz-Cortez’s drug trial. A jury convicted Ruiz-Cortez in December 1999, and a judge sentenced the Aurora man to more than 17 years in prison. The feds moved to dismiss Ruiz-Cortez’s indictment in May 2010.
Last week, Lewellen’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber to compel testimony from Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Block and former federal prosecutor Terra Reynolds. Lewellen attorney Timothy Scahill wrote that Block, in particular, was present for an interview in which Ruiz-Cortez acknowledged he had drugs in his home the day of his arrest.
Block was the lead prosecutor in the criminal case that sent former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert to prison for 15 months this year. Meanwhile, City Hall has also sought to block the potential testimony of former Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline in the case. Leinenweber has said he will rule on pending motions Friday.
Ruiz-Cortez claims he was framed by Lewellen, Lewellen’s partner Noel Sanchez, and police informant Saul Rodriguez in the summer of 1999. Ruiz-Cortez said he met a man named “Carlos” that summer who tried to persuade him to get involved in illegal drug activity. Ruiz-Cortez said he refused despite Carlos’ threats, but eventually several men brought a duffel bag full of drugs to his apartment. Scared for his family, Ruiz-Cortez said he allowed the drugs to be left there for pick-up.
But Ruiz-Cortez alleges that Lewellen eventually convinced the feds that Ruiz-Cortez was the source of the drugs. And he claims Lewellen lied to federal investigators about seeing Ruiz-Cortez carry a plastic bag of cocaine out of his apartment while a car waited outside, only to spot Lewellen and run back inside after dropping the bag.
Before his sentencing in 2000, Ruiz-Cortez told a judge that “I never had those drugs in my house,” records show.
Lewellen’s attorney say Block participated in a May 2010 interview of Ruiz-Cortez at at the Schuykill Federal Correctional Institute in Pennsylvania. Though Ruiz-Cortez initially claimed a police officer knocked on his door the day of his arrest, searched his apartment and took him into custody without finding any drugs, Lewellen claims Ruiz-Cortez changed his story during the same interview – and admitted that he agreed to store the cocaine in his home.
Days after the interview, the feds moved to dismiss Ruiz-Cortez’s indictment and sought his freedom.
Though the U.S. Attorney’s office has maintained that information in the court record should be sufficient for Lewellen, Scahill wrote in a motion that “this evidence is indescribably important in the context of this case.”
“More than any other single issue, this case revolves around the credibility of (Ruiz-Cortez) regarding what actually occurred on the day of his arrest,” Scahill wrote. “It is Defendant Lewellen’s contention that (Ruiz-Cortez) was guilty of the offenses for which he was tried and convicted.”
Meanwhile, Cline’s testimony has been sought because his name appears on a supplementary report in the case. Cline was a police commander at the time.
