At the age of just 22, Kevin Barlow was arrested and later wrongfully convicted of murder in Chicago, Illinois after an eyewitness misidentified his truck as the vehicle used in the drive-by shooting that tragically killed Nina Boatman and witnesses were coerced by police to provide false statements.

There was NO other evidence against Kevin, no fingerprints, no DNA, only false witness statements coerced by police, one of which has since been recanted and one witness who denied the statement was correct at trial.

Even though the truck used in the drive-by shooting was NOT Kevin’s truck and the eyewitness had been mistaken, Kevin was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 75 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Nineteen years later, Kevin is still incarcerated in Illinois as an innocent man. We need your help to FREE KEVIN BARLOW and bring him and his loved one’s justice.

Please sign and share this petition, which will be used to support our case for Kevin’s freedom.

You can learn more about Kevin’s case below. Thank you for supporting this petition and please remember to share with your friends and family and on all social media platforms so we can spread the word!

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On February 9th, 2003, at approximately 1:50am on the street @ 7400 S. Phillips, a black truck approached the victim’s vehicle from behind and fired several shots, hitting passenger Nina Boatman. It was theorised that the intended target was the driver, Nina Boatman’s nephew, Donnie Hayes, who was parked and preparing to exit the vehicle at the time of the incident, in retaliation for an earlier crime where Donnie allegedly stole a stereo and shot an individual known to Kevin, named Boo. 

When questioned by police, Donnie told them the truck had been a black 1995 Chevy SUV (a statement which he later denies), and that the shooter was a stranger. The other passenger in the victim’s car, Deborah Slaughter told detectives that Donnie said he knew who the shooter was, and he was someone from across the tracks between 73rd and 74th and Coles (not Kevin).

Based on the truck misidentification, and the fact that Kevin was known to Donnie, he identified Kevin in a police line-up as the shooter. The truck used in this crime was later recovered and identified as a Black Tahoe with limo tint on the windows. When the incident occurred, it was dark (1:50am) and the shots were fired through the raised tinted driver’s window, leaving the window intact with six bullet holes in it, making it impossible for Donnie (or anyone else) to make a positive identification of the shooter (which has been confirmed by an eyewitness identification expert).

Later, Donnie identified a passenger in the back seat of the Tahoe truck and claims this passenger, John Stallworth (known as BJ) was leaning out the window shooting at him (despite no shell casings being found at the scene, only in the recovered vehicle). When Stallworth was questioned by police, he was told that his fingerprints were found on the truck’s door handle and that Kevin had provided a statement implicating him as the shooter (Kevin did not provide this statement). Stallworth was coerced by police into providing a false statement naming Kevin as the shooter and that a TEC-9 gun had been used, in return for a plea deal, which he took. 

Stallworth has since recanted his statement after Kevin’s conviction and claims he was coerced by police and that Kevin was NOT in the vehicle and Kevin was NOT the shooter.

Police coerced Lakeeta Lay, a female known to Kevin into providing a false statement that she saw Kevin with a TEC-9 gun the day before, and he mentioned getting retaliation for Boo’s earlier shooting and stolen stereo. Lakeeta claims police threatened to arrest her if she did not co-operate, and as a young mother with children to look after, she agreed. Lakeeta said she was unable to read the statement in the police station, but she signed it anyway. Later in court, she testified that she did not see Kevin with a TEC-9 gun, and that she had not heard him say he wanted to retaliate against Donnie.

Kevin was arrested on April 16th, 2003, for the charge of murder.

Despite the TEC-9 gun being brought up several times at trial by police and the three separate witnesses, AND heavily relied on as evidence, it was later discovered through ballistics that the murder weapon was in fact a High-Point Model C-9, which was registered as an active gun of the Chicago Police Department, NOT a TEC-9. This information was withheld by the police, and it was not until several years later through a freedom of information request that this was discovered. These firearms are very different looking and are unlikely to be confused (see links below), which further indicates the witness statements were coerced and synchronised with false information, orchestrated by the police. 

TECH-9 pictures and specifications​

High-Point Model C-9 pictures and specifications                                                         

It was also discovered that the Tahoe truck used in the drive-by shooting was owned by a Chicago police officer and was reported stolen on January 26th, 2 weeks before the murder. The police officer claimed the vehicle had been stolen several times in the past and used in other crimes.

Kevin’s attorney, Robert D. Kuzas was a former Chicago police officer, and a police attorney working for The Chicago Police Sergeants Association, assisting police officers who needed representation (a fact not known at the time).

On July 26th, 2005, Kevin was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury and later sentenced to 75 years in prison. 

The judge in Kevin’s case, Judge Kenneth J. Wadas was an assistant state’s attorney in the 80’s and was rebuked by the Illinois Appellate Court, which found he engaged in tactics it called “an insult to the court and to the dignity of the trial bar”. Wadas was involved in several cases in which prosecutorial misconduct led to appellate reversals and the appellate court specifically suggested he should be brought before the board that hears cases of attorney misconduct. Wadas has been reversed 25 times in 6 years, more than any other Cook County criminal court judge. Appeals court found that Wadas frequently disregarded a law that prevents excessive sentencing and incorrectly dismissed prisoner’s claims of errors during their trials (injusticewatch.org, 2020).

In 2022, Kevin has spent 19 years imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, and he is not due to be released until 2078. We need your help to fight for his freedom. Please make sure you sign and share this petition. Every signature counts!

#IAMINNOCENT

#FREEKEVINBARLOW