Man Allegedly Framed By Corrupt Cop Ronald Watts Being Released From Jail
CHICAGO (CBS)—A man who says he was framed by Chicago police was released two years early from a 12-year prison sentence on Monday.
Anthony McDaniels was arrested on gun charges in 2008 and began serving a sentence in Stateville Prison in Joliet that year.
Prosecutors Monday announced a decision to drop the case against McDaniels, who has long alleged he was framed by disgraced Chicago police commander Ronald Watts.
McDaniels claimed a tactical team lead by Watts bribed him and planted a gun on him after he refused to take the money.
McDaniels, 50, walked out of prison as a free man Monday afternoon, and CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker was there to capture his first moments of freedom.
Dressed in a casual clothing, McDaniels appeared calm as he walked out of the prison gates surrounded by a few family members and his legal counsel.
"How does it feel to have walked out of there?" Tucker asked. "Lots of emotion?"
"I don't know yet--I'll find out--it feels good," McDaniels said.
His conviction is the latest case of 33 convictions tied to Watts' tactical unit that patrolled the now-demolished Ida B. Wells housing project, according to the Exoneration Project.
In his appeals, McDaniels claimed officer Kallatt Mohammed planted a gun on him.
Talking to reporters waiting outside of the prison, McDaniels briefly recounted the story of his arrest.
"Nobody believed me--I kept telling them over and over. They planted the gun in my car and told me to give them something and I had nothing to give them," he said. "They charged me with a weapon."
Watts and officer Kallatt Mohammed both pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2014 after they were caught taking $5,200 from an FBI informant.
State's Attorney Kim Foxx last year dropped charges against 15 men who had been convicted in cases handled by Watts and his team.
