Tyrone Smith

Tyrone Smith spent over six years in custody for the 2015 Dolton, Illinois, shooting death of Tyrone “Ty” Smith. His conviction relied primarily on the testimony of eyewitnesses who, years later, contradicted their earlier statements, and on a surveillance video that prosecutors misrepresented. The Bonjean Law Group uncovered that key witnesses had not previously identified Smith as the shooter, that the defense failed to retain an expert on eyewitness identification, and that the prosecution elicited false testimony from police and a grand jury witness.

In June 2023, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Brian Flaherty vacated Smith’s conviction, citing ineffective assistance of trial counsel and unreliable eyewitness identification. The prosecution subsequently dismissed the charge, and Smith was released on January 8, 2024.