Two Chicago cops accused of framing a convicted felon faced off in court Friday against the man who says they planted drugs on him.
Morris Wynn, 37, of Elmhurst, testified he didn’t have any drugs when Chicago Police officers Michael Bernichio and Daniel Murphy arrested him on narcotics charges outside his sister’s South Side home nearly six years ago.
“I asked them several times, ‘What am I being arrested for?’ ” Wynn said. “I asked them, ‘What am I here for?’ ”
Bernichio, 43, is facing conspiracy and perjury charges stemming from Wynn’s July 27, 2004, arrest in the 2500 block of 64th Street. Murphy, 35, is on trial for conspiracy.
The Chicago Lawn District tactical officers arrested Wynn and his friend Wayne Guy on the night in question, according to authorities. They eventually released Guy but filled out two identical police reports for both men even though only Wynn was charged, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Romano DiBenedetto said.
Bernichio also lied in court at Wynn’s 2005 trial, testifying that he and his partner had initially arrested just one man, DiBenedetto said at the opening at the officers’ bench trial. Wynn was found guilty but the Illinois Appellate Court later threw out his drug conviction.
Bernichio and Murphy’s attorneys, Tom Needham and William Gamboney, denied their clients were involved in any wrongdoing. Wynn had dropped a bag containing a substantial amount of cocaine and Guy was taken to the police station because he promised information about the drug transactions in the neighborhood, Gamboney said.
The filling out of two police reports wasn’t deliberate but an “innocent clerical error,” Gamboney added, chastising prosecutors of “doing a 180” after the Appellate Court reversed Wynn’s conviction.
Gamboney continued, “The only crime that was committed on July 27, 2004 was by Morris Wynn.”
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