'Long Past Due': Exonerated Man Alleges Waukegan Police Framed Him In Brutal 1989 Slaying

WAUKEGAN, IL — After spending more than 30 years wrongfully imprisoned following his conviction for the 1989 rape and murder of his grandmother, Robert Melock filed a lawsuit last month against the city of Waukegan, several of its former police officers and the interrogation firm John Reid & Associates.

Melock, who was 22 at the time of his arrest, was convicted based on fabricated evidence and coerced confessions, according to the 12-count complaint filed in federal court in Chicago.

His conviction was vacated in December 2023 after newly uncovered evidence exposed widespread misconduct by Waukegan police, including the coercion of false confessions and the concealment of exculpatory evidence.

The murder of 72-year-old Augustine Melock in her Waukegan home was described as one of Lake County’s most brutal crimes. Prosecutors initially persuaded a jury to sentence Melock to death, branding him “a lying, raping, murdering man.”

According to the lawsuit, Melock’s interrogations took him from his home in the early morning and subjected him to 17 hours of relentless questioning, moving him between locations to disorient him. He was reportedly given a polygraph test and falsely told he had failed it, with investigators claiming they were certain he had committed the crime.

Despite not being read his Miranda rights or provided legal counsel, Melock eventually signed a confession under pressure. When police realized the first confession lacked critical details, they allegedly fabricated another statement and coerced him to sign that as well.

The lawsuit also accuses Waukegan police of manufacturing additional evidence, including testimony from a jailhouse informant who claimed Melock confessed to the crime. However, records discovered decades later during Melock’s exoneration show that the informant was never held in the same jail as him. Instead, police allegedly sought out the informant after another inmate refused to lie about Melock.

No physical or forensic evidence ever connected Melock to the murder, and the lawsuit claims investigators destroyed or suppressed evidence that could have cleared him.

His conviction rested solely on the fabricated confessions and the testimony of an informant who never met him, according to the 31-page complaint.

"[Officers and interrogators] knew there was no probable cause to suspect [Melock] of the murder of his grandmother. No physical evidence connected him to the crime scene," it said. "Indeed, the only evidence tying [him] to the crime—the fabricated statements signed by [Melock] and the jailhouse snitch’s statements—was procured through manipulation and coercion."

David Brodsky, Melock’s public defender in 1989 and later a Lake County judge, played a critical role in securing his exoneration. Brodsky, now retired, continued advocating for Melock and helped secure his release more than 30 years after his wrongful conviction.

“I am beyond thrilled to finally see Robert Melock released from prison and beginning to heal,” Brodsky said in a statement. “

"It is long past due that the system that incarcerated him acknowledged Robert’s innocence, and that he receives some form of justice for what was done to him," Brodsky said.

Waukegan police and John Reid & Associates have faced similar lawsuits over wrongful convictions.

In 2015, the city paid $20 million to Juan Rivera, who was coerced into confessing to the 1992 rape and murder of 11-year-old Holly Staker. Rivera’s settlement was then the largest awarded to a single wrongful-conviction plaintiff in U.S. history.

Four of the officers named in Melock’s lawsuit — Lucian Tessmann, Donald Meadie, Richard Davis, and Phillip Stevenson — were also involved in Rivera’s case, according to the law firm representing both men.

“These cases are travesties of justice from any perspective,” attorney Steve Art of Loevy & Loevy, who represents both Melock and Rivera, said in a statement.

“Just as they did with Juan Rivera, Waukegan and John Reid framed Bob Melock, an innocent man, and stole decades of his life. In doing so, these corrupt law enforcement officers let the men who really committed these horrendous crimes go free," Art said.

"Bob Melock suffered immeasurable damage and was nearly killed by the state," he added, "but at the same time the people of Waukegan suffered as well, because their police department cared more about manufacturing phony convictions than catching rapists and murderers.”