Judge Denies Innocence Certificate in 1999 Murder Case

A Cook County judge rejected Frank Burrell's certificate of innocence petition despite his vacated murder conviction, blocking up to $1 million in state compensation.

On Thursday, Cook County Judge Tyria Walton denied Frank Burrell's petition for a certificate of innocence in the 1999 murder of Renee Battle, who was killed in Hyde Park when a shot meant for her boyfriend, Marc Davis, struck her instead. Burrell spent roughly 20 years in prison before an appellate court overturned his 32-year sentence in 2019 over ineffective counsel, and prosecutors later dropped the case when Davis refused to testify. Still, Walton ruled the evidence did not undermine her confidence in the original conviction, saying even under the lower preponderance standard, Burrell fell short.

The ruling carries major financial weight. Under a new Illinois law, a certificate of innocence provides $50,000 per year of imprisonment for murder convictions, and Burrell would have been eligible for up to $1 million — potentially the first seven-figure payout from Illinois taxpayers under the statute, according to CWB Chicago. The certificates also strengthen civil claims against the city and county. Burrell's civil lawsuit against Chicago, Cook County, retired detectives and a retired judge continues, though he acknowledged during the proceedings he had no personal knowledge of wrongdoing by the officers involved.

The decision cuts against the exoneration narrative Burrell received in national media. During a 2024 CNN appearance, host Laura Coates told him he was 'innocent' for a crime he did not commit — a finding no court ever made, CWB Chicago reports. The case also lands amid a policy shift at the Cook County State's Attorney's Office: under Kim Foxx, the office objected to only 25% of certificate petitions per Injustice Watch, while Eileen O'Neill Burke is contesting 80%. The office says it evaluates each petition individually under the Illinois statute.

Walton reviewed the original trial record, appeals and three days of July testimony. Two men riding with Burrell identified him as the shooter, and one, Darryl Morton, never retracted his account before dying; all three witnesses knew Burrell, undercutting expert testimony about stranger identifications. His alibi rested on a timecard lacking any entry for July 7, 1999, which his original trial attorney testified he deliberately omitted as unreliable. A second timecard surfaced later was dismissed by Walton as appearing to come from a different machine, per CWB Chicago's transcript-based reporting.