Man convicted in killing of Chicago police officer sentenced to life in prison

CHICAGO - The man convicted of killing a Chicago police officer will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

On Monday, Alexander Villa was sentenced in the murder of Officer Clifton Lewis. Villa, however, says he will appeal the conviction.

Lewis was killed while working security at a convenience store in 2011. Villa claims he was framed.

Charges against his two co-defendants — Edgardo Colon and Tyrone Clay — were dropped this year after their legal team successfully argued their confessions were coerced by police.

Villa, who was found guilty at trial in 2019, is seeking to have the verdict overturned based on evidence that his lawyers say shows prosecutors did not turn over cellphone tower data showing that the three men were nowhere near the murder scene and hid all evidence police collected in a massive, months-long dragnet targeting Villa and the Spanish Cobras street gang.

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Based on emails uncovered by Villa’s lawyers, Assistant State’s Attorneys Andrew Varga and Nancy Adduci, who were assigned to the case in 2012 but were pulled off the case in January, were aware of missing files that were never turned over to defense lawyers, and they helped police edit their reports, the lawyers' motion states.

Colon was found guilty at trial in 2017 and sentenced to 80 years in prison for acting as a lookout in the shooting, only to have his conviction overturned by an appeals court that ruled he made his confession — which he recanted — after he had repeatedly asked detectives for a lawyer.

Clay was arrested in 2012 and was awaiting trial when the charges were dropped in June. An appeals court ruled that Clay also had asked detectives for a lawyer before he confessed, with the court ruling he lacked the mental capacity to understand his right to remain silent or to have a lawyer.

Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.