Antonio Blanchard is serving 40 years for an armed robbery in 2008, a crime he did not commit. Plain clothes police with no identification accosted Blanchard on the street with guns drawn, in a mostly white neighborhood and threatened to "blow his [expletive] head off". He ran, tripped and fell, and they kicked him and beat him terribly. He was arrested, and later convicted in a suburban courthouse in Skokie, Illinois based on illegally manipulated victim-eyewitness identifications. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime - no weapon, no money, no property. The only evidence was a credit card the police alleged they found in his possession, which the police had before his arrest. A forensic DNA analysis excluded him from ever having touched that card. For a complete fact sheet on the case click here.

In October of 2008, while awaiting trial in Cook County Jail, Blanchard lost his mother, Amy L. Blanchard, who was also his best friend. He was not allowed to attend her funeral in Washington, DC, his home. On March 11, 2009 he was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Blanchard has been diagnosed with manic depression and impulsive behavior, in addition to PTSD. After fourteen years The Illinois Department of Corrections and its contract health care provider, Wexford Health Source, Inc., have still not provided service to Blanchard, in spite of receiving millions of tax dollars to provide such care. The IDOC has refused to transfer him to either Elgin or Joliet Treatment Centers, though as an SMI patient and minimum security risk person he is eligible for that transfer. 

Please sign this petition urging Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx to move to reduce his sentence to "time served" and urge Governor J. B. Pritzker to pardon Antonio Blanchard on the grounds of his innocence.