Aleman v. Sternes, 320 F.3d 687 (7th Cir. 2003)

Judge Easterbrook's opinion affirming the denial of habeas relief after Harry Aleman's retrial for the 1972 Logan killing. It recites that Aleman bribed Judge Frank Wilson for the 1977 acquittal and that Wilson killed himself in 1990.

Date: 2003-02-19
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Docket: 320 F.3d 687 (7th Cir. 2003); No. 02-2874
Rights: Opinion of a United States court. Works of the federal judiciary are in the public domain in the United States. The text was read on CourtListener.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, February 19, 2003, Judge Easterbrook writing. The respondent was the warden of the Dixon Correctional Center.

The court summarizes that Aleman bribed Judge Wilson to obtain the 1977 acquittal, that Wilson killed himself in 1990 on learning that federal investigators knew of the corruption, and that Aleman, already in prison on unrelated federal convictions, was retried for the killing of William Logan and sentenced to 100 to 300 years. It affirmed the denial of habeas relief, rejecting his claim about the prosecutor’s reference at trial to his silence.

The earlier double-jeopardy ruling is Aleman v. Toomin (1998).

itemAleman v. Judges of the Circuit Court of Cook County (Aleman v. Toomin), 138 F.3d 302 (7th Cir. 1998)The Seventh Circuit affirmed the denial of habeas corpus to Harry Aleman, whose 1977 bench-trial acquittal for the 1972 killing of William Logan the state courts held a sham because the judge had been bribed; there was no double jeopardy.