Veritas–Latin for truth–is carved into the limestone face of the Cook County Criminal Courthouse at 26th and California. Inside the building, truth is so abundant that juries are usually provided two contrary versions of it.
Foster told the jury he was on routine patrol on the south side on a hot June afternoon in 2002 when he saw a woman and two men arguing near the corner of 76th and Peoria. Sterling was one of the men. Foster stopped his squad car and asked what the problem was. He noticed that Sterling was holding something in a plastic bag. After a brief conversation, he allowed Sterling to leave, and Sterling walked off briskly. But a few minutes later Foster drove after Sterling, catching up to him at the end of the block. When he asked Sterling to come over to the car, Sterling darted into an alley. Foster chased him on foot, as did two other officers who arrived in a second car. They ran through the alley while Sterling vaulted fences and raced across backyards. Foster saw Sterling ditch the bag in one of the yards. The officers caught him when he tried to scale another fence. After he was handcuffed and put in a squad car they retrieved the plastic bag. Inside was a fully loaded .38 revolver.
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Sterling took the stand on the trial’s second day. This time he was in a black pin-striped suit and had a small pin on his lapel–a pin he later told me he was given when he got his PhD.
Then Owens asked Sterling if he had any advanced degrees. Prosecutor James Lynch objected, saying it was irrelevant. Judge Egan hesitated, then said he’d let Sterling answer. Sterling told the jury about his bachelor’s in business administration and his PhD in philosophy.
“Nobody wants to believe,” said Owens, “that in America you can be a law-abiding citizen and be walking around doing nothing wrong and be arrested.”
Despite being wrongly charged repeatedly, Sterling said he bore no grudge against the justice system. “Even though I’m a defendant now, I may be a complaining witness tomorrow,” he said. “And if I’m a complaining witness the justice system is going to have to work for me. My thoughts are positive about it no matter what.” He was confident the jurors would acquit him. “I’m just waiting for them to say, ‘Not guilty.’”
