When Johnnie Lee Savory walked out of jail in December 2006 after serving more than 30 years for a double murder for which he was wrongfully convicted, the first smiling face he saw was Rob Warden, co-founder of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.

Savory has since then spent several Thanksgivings with Warden and built a “second home” at the Center, he said. The Center celebrated its 25th anniversary last year.

“I guess I call (the Center) the lighthouse,” Savory said. “Everyone knows the lighthouse draws the ships out of troubled water. Rob and the others draw the souls of innocent people out of troubled water.” 

Savory was first convicted at 14 for the murder of his best friend, James Robinson, and Robinson’s sister, Connie Cooper, in Peoria County in 1977. After his confession was ruled involuntary, a retrial took place in 1981, where he was convicted for a second time. Decades later, after multiple witnesses recanted their testimonies, Savory was released on parole in 2006.

In 2013, following years of petitioning with CWC’s help, DNA testing was finally ordered by the Peoria County Circuit Court — but much of the evidence had been lost by that point. Savory was pardoned by former Gov. Pat Quinn in 2015.

“One of the most profound things for me was that I couldn’t believe adults could be so cruel,” Savory said. “I never understood that it happened to more than just me.”

Long before the Center was even established, Savory wrote letters to Warden, who was a journalist at the time. Warden responded, and the two began a correspondence that stood the test of time. Savory eventually became a client of the Center, which came to life at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in April 1999.

Warden, who served as the executive director of CWC for 15 years before retiring more than a decade ago, said the Center was an outgrowth of the National Conference on Wrongful Convictions, where about 30 death row exonerees gathered in November of 1998 at Pritzker. The next year, the Center was established and, in 2000, former Gov. George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions in Illinois.

Today, CWC has exonerated more than 50 innocent people nationwide and has represented dozens more individuals whose sentences were reduced through court or the clemency process, according to CWC Director Andrea Lewis Hartung.

Despite its successes, Hartung said one of the toughest parts of the job is not being able to get someone the result they wanted or secure their release from prison.

“Every day isn’t happy but it’s definitely necessary work,” Hartung said. “And you’re able to help and give voice to folks who frankly, a lot of times, will convey to us that we’re the first people to ever listen to them or we’re the first people really trying to fight for them.”

 The Center is housed under the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Pritzker. Second and third-year law students can take a class on wrongful conviction where they work with the Center on ongoing cases, according to Hartung.

CWC was one of the only centers to take on both DNA and non-DNA-based post-conviction cases when it was initially founded, Warden said. He said several cases that had been tried prior to the emergence of DNA testing had resulted in wrongful convictions and were the cornerstone of the Center’s work in the early years. 

However, things have changed as most DNA testing is now done prior to trial. Warden predicts non-DNA cases will make up the majority of CWC’s work in the future. 

“Wrongful convictions are not going to occur in the first place where there’s DNA,” Warden said. 

“The primary work we did in exonerating people in non-DNA cases will occupy and will be the focus of the movement nationally from here on.”

The current CWC team has shrunk from eight to nine people during Warden’s time to now just Hartung and one other attorney. According to Warden, this has largely been because of reduced University support for non-tenured positions at Pritzker since 2018. 

Warden said he feels sad that CWC is not at the center of the wrongful convictions movement anymore, but looks back contently at its role in fostering the movement originally. 

“It was the crown jewel of the law school, but now it’s a bit tarnished,” Warden said. 

Savory, on the other hand, has continued to work with the Center, advocating frequently for criminal justice reforms and helping other exonerees adjust to life post-conviction. 

CWC is currently working on petitioning for Savory’s official certificate of innocence, he said. 

“I am truly family,” Savory said. “I am not just another client, not just another number.”

Email: mishaoberoi2027@u.northwestern.edu

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