Gregory Spence: August 24, 2005; “the day his freedom was stolen from him”!

On this day approximately 8am after returning home from purchasing his daughter some pampers, he boarded a city bus going to a friend’s house in Elgin, Illinois then transferred to the Metro train station approximately 8:45am; arrived in Elgin approx. 9:20am and returned home approx. 1:30pm. (This is the time the crime had taken place approx. 9:00 O’clock am.) A friend came over to his home approx. 1:00 O’clock pm after spending time with his friend, he got in the car with another friend (Jamel Larkin) who went to pick his cousin up (Acie Mcewen) approx.6pm in Chicago Heights, they were pulled over by Glenwood Police dept. the car was searched, and guns were confiscated, and they were arrested and interrogated. During the interrogation by Detectives of Glenwood Police Department, he was assaulted and threatened. Greg never returned home; charged with “ARMED ROBBERY/DISCHARGED/HARM” from that day and found guilty of a crime he didn’t commit. Greg has served 20 years in the Illinois correctional facilities. Greg has petitioned for relief through post-convictions twice denied by the same Judge that sentenced him. Greg has petitioned for clemency that is still sitting on the Governor J.B.Pritzkers desk. Greg has also petitioned the “Conviction Integrity Unit” for his case to be reviewed since March of 2023. Our duty today is to advocate for fair and humane treatment in this systemic failure surrounding the law enforcement and correctional institutions in our country. Wrongful Convictions is high among our black population, and it is time for Greg to be released and for reform surrounding these inhumane acts.

Berretta Spence: (terminated on May 7th, 2024) Retaliation from a nonprofit organization that refused to acknowledge a hostile work environment.

On this day after two months of investigating the reporting of a hostile work environment-Supervisor and Co-worker who viscously went to clients to coerce them into writing grievance letters and told them they were trying to get Berretta fired. the Board came back and decided to terminate her 5-year employment with their nonprofit organization for reporting it. Berretta is a Survivor of Domestic Violence in her own life and new firsthand the effects of trauma. This two years of enduring this hostile environment caused Berretta to relive her pass trauma and exacerbate her PTSD and depression. This is an organization that work with already traumatized families surviving Domestic Violence that Berretta was compassion about in the work that she did as an advocate for adult women. These workers committed illegal acts by defaming and interfering with Berretta’s employment; The Executive Director that displayed racist behavior by denying Berretta a promotion and ignoring her complaint. The Board chose to ignore this injustice and allowed the termination with a straight face even under a protected characteristic, ADA & Racism. The mission and vision of this organization financed by government and state funding is and has been ignored and used for narcissistic grandiosity and financial gain. This horrific act caused grave emotional harm to Berretta and clients that was affected, even one client who reported it after being thrown out on the streets because she refused to write a grievance letter. “She was told to go back to her abuser by the Supervisor that asked her to leave and admitted to her she had did nothing wrong. Our duty today is to bring awareness to the systemic failures in our country surrounding this population.

Curtis Hodges: Diagnosed with Schizophrenia: Pleaded guilty to second degree murder in 2015. and sentenced to life in prison

Curtis will take off and get on a greyhound bus and go to other states where he doesn’t know anyone when he gets his Social Security check. He had this impulse control where he would take off when gotten the opportunity, this wasn’t the first time. Berretta: his mother was his payee until he walked into a Social Security Office and asked to be his own payee; even when the Judge stated he could never be his own payee. This particular time Curtis took off and went to California and then to Hawaii where Berretta tracked him down. After Berretta reached out to the “Hilo Police department” a detective returned her call shortly after and told Berretta They ran across Curtis and he had been attacked but was okay and that she better hurry up and get him home before something bad happened; Her worst and unimaginable nightmare did happen when she saw on the news three days later, her son was picked up on a murder investigation from a “hostile” where he was staying that was paid for by a stranger and this stranger also purchased a shirt for him that had the words “Shock the Nation” on it. Also, there was an article in the “Hawaii-Tribune Harold” during this time, “a clerk at a store stated that the victim had confided in her that someone was out to kill her”, my son didn’t know this woman he was in Hawaii for a short period of time. Also, the victim “a drug addict” was a witness to a serious crime because the Hilo officials had to hire an outside public defender because of this conflict in the public defender’s office. Not only that the outside public defender that was hired stated the stab wound did not substantiate the few drops of blood on his shirt. (She was stabbed multiple time on the left side of her throat, the blood should have saturated his shirt, but they found his shirt hanging on a bed post in his room at the local hostile where he stayed. There was other circumstantial evidence that will not be disclosed on this platform do to hopefully upcoming review of this injustice. Curtis denied he did this heinous act, and three psychologist and psychiatrist combined concluded he was not malingering. Curtis then shortly after changed his plea to guilty as stated to avoid a mental hospital and psychotropic medication. Does this sound like someone acting in a normal state of mind? The turn of events that has been happening to Curtis is like out of a movie; everything looks staged. We will share all of the turn of events on this website as events unfold. We have to support this injustice displayed against mental illness and corruption in our justice system. A systemic failure all too familiar amongst mental health and the justice system.