The seven-episode limited series examines how the brutal murder of a Chicago police officer spiraled into a sweeping 12-year hunt for justice
The Guardian today launched a new US podcast, Off Duty, examining how the brutal murder of a Chicago police officer, Clifton Lewis, spiraled into a sweeping 12-year legal odyssey, one that lays bare gaping cracks in the criminal legal system.
As pressure mounted from police brass and the city at large to bring Lewis’s killers to justice, detectives ultimately found four suspects; three confess – but the fourth, Alexander Villa, refuses to break, pitting him against a system that’s unwilling to admit it might be wrong.
As he fights his case, allegations of misconduct across the legal system soon follow: claims of grueling police interrogations that sent three suspects to the hospital and prosecutors failing to turn over critical evidence. Digital forensics is called into question as two determined defense attorneys unearth evidence that could have spared Villa his fate.
Read more and listen at
https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-us-press-office/2026/mar/18/guardian-off-duty-podcast-chicago
