Four years have passed since Greg Clark's February 6, 2008, murder. No one has been charged for his murder, but Richard Wanke and Diane Chavez remain under a cloud of suspicion, and the Rockford Police and State continue to prosecute Diane Chavez. We believe it is time for the media and Rockford community to question the conduct of the Clark murder investigation and to urge the authorities to drop the prosecution against Diane Chavez.

Read our summarization of the events of the 4 year old investigation to date and our perspective as to why the allegations made against Richard Wanke, and Diane Chavez, are wrong. Please click on the tab on "Year Four: Where the Clark Murder Investigation Stands" in the top left center area of this page to read why we believe the investigation went astray and not only needs to be redone, but the charges against Diane Chavez also immediately dropped.

Richard will be filing a post-conviction petition in June 2012, and needs help. Please click on the "Help Needed" tab to read further. You can find all of his appeal court filings by clicking on the tab "Richard's Appeal Briefs.

Incidentally, the State's evidence comprising it's case against Richard and Diane (consisting of over 700 pages containing over 200 individual Rockford police reports and evidence summations) has been reviewed by an authoritative source who found nothing contained in that information which links either Richard or Diane to any involvement in Clark's murder other than the original claimed "witness reports" in February 2008. No DNA, no fingerprints, no weapon, no gunpowder residue, no questionable contacts, phone records, or transactions: nothing, zilch....

On February 6, 2008, our friends, Richard Wanke and Diane Chavez, were arrested in alleged connection to the murder of a well-respected, local attorney, Gregory Clark. The vague scenario the Rockford police have submitted is problematic and more than three years later; the Rockford police still haven't been able to build enough of a case to charge Richard or Diane (or anyone else) with anything connected to the murder. We know Richard and Diane as gentle people; local community activists, who routinely participate in volunteer projects in the community. We hope, for the sake of our friends, and the family and friends of attorney Gregory Clark, that the Rockford police will rethink their current course and renew effort toward finding the real truth in this case.

The scenario on Wednesday, February 8, 2008, about 1:50 pm in the afternoon:

The snow fall in Rockford, Illinois began the evening before and continued throughout the day. The snow accumulation was the heaviest experienced by the city in 10 years. The snowfall was so heavy that most businesses and all offices closed early or never opened, and for the first time in memory mail delivery did not even occur. At 1:50 pm, snow on the streets reached above car bumper level and visibility was poor.

What happened: News media report that at 1:50 pm, attorney Greg Clark was home at his house in a quiet neighborhood on the east side of Rockford. According to the RRSTAR's latest summation of events from 2008: "A gunman springs from a van and opens fire, killing Gregory Clark, a Rockford attorney, who is clearing snow from his sidewalk." Clark was brutally shot in the back three times by an unknown shooter. He was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.

News accounts and subsequent police action show that more than one perpetrator actively participated at Clark's shooting. Media reports show the police immediately focused upon Richard Wanke because of what they thought of him and not because of any of the evidence found at the murder site.

The news reporter was told the next day that the police did not believe he shot Clark, but just that he was somehow involved. Subsequent questioning of Richard's acquaintances showed the police asking questions indicating they sought information about at least one other person other than Richard.

Read the whole essay.

RichardWanke.com is written and updated by community volunteers. It's mission: publicity and assistance for the legal defense of IDOC inmate, Richard Wanke. This blog also features articles on topics affecting IL, IDOC, and IDOC inmates. Article information is gleaned from a variety of public media accounts and from other internet sources and reflects what we believe to be accurate. Readers are invited to respond and submit their own experiences.

Click here to link to Richard's campaign Spot.us is a non-profit project to pioneer "community funded reporting". Through Spot.us, the public can commission investigations with tax deductible donations for important and perhaps overlooked media stories. Read this article at link to more information

All IDOC Early Release Programs were suspended in 12/2009. IDOC awarding of Supplemental & Meritorious Good Time Credits (SGT & MGT) were also subsequently suspended. No inmates are eligible for either, and while MGT may return in a more restrictive form, no Early Release program is anticipated. See: (here)

Politicians have made the law more restrictive before IDOC once again awards any MGT. You can read the Erickson Report and IDOC's official plan for implementing MGT (here).

Prison over-crowding is unlikely to be addressed by Quinn until Mid 2012 or later. It may or may not include MGT. Quinn's plan to close state facilities is changing again and prison closures may again be included. Discussions between Quinn and IDOC about prison overcrowding are happening, but any action on releasing inmates to relieve overcrowding will not happen till late 2012, if at all.

We will keep readers posted of any news or changes when these occur. We also urge readers to check these online sites: (ILprisontalk.com), and the (John Howard Association), for other information

Send a letter with your thoughts or questions to Richard Wanke. (If you want a reply, you must include your name and a regular mailing address.) freerichardwanke@gmail.com, or snailmail (and it is slow):

Richard Wanke, K77902 Vienna CC, 6695 State Route #146 East, Vienna, IL 62995

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Express your frustration about IDOC, prison issues, or anything else to your IL State Representative or IL State Senator! Use this link to email them directly!: (Rep or Senator here)

Send your thoughts to Congress!

Thanks to reader prisonrightsadvocate, for letting us know of the following weblinks which you can use to directly email our US Rep, Don Manzullo and State Senator, Dick Durbin

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Send an opinion letter to the Rockford Register Star. (To be printed it must be less than 200 words, with name, address, and daytime phone number.) Opinions@RRStar.com

Send an opinion letter to the Rock River Times. rrtimes@rworld.com

Have you experienced problems with the Winnebago County legal system? Please write a short story about your incident for us to post. You can choose to add your name, or not. freerichardwanke@gmail.com