Description

Timothy Kendrick was arrested in a Champaign apartment that was raided by the Drug Enforcement unit of the Champaign Police Department. Kendrick claims that his photo id was taken from his pocket while being handcuffed and officers propped his ID in a kitchen cabinet above a drawer containing drugs. Kendrick had not known about the drugs, but the other individuals in the apartment had made deals with the Champaign police. He was the only one out of five adults to be charged with one count of Manufacturing and Delivery of 100-400 grams of cocaine. He spent nine months in the county jail and was denied his right to a speedy trial. His case was dropped on June 22, 2010 by the State's Attorney. However, the next day Kendrick was arraigned on three new counts: controlled substance trafficking, unlawful criminal drug conspiracy and unlawful possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance that extended from Sept 4, 2007 to Sept. 4 2008. In other words, the new charges were based on the same evidence. A resident of Houston, TX, Kendrick had to travel seven times between Texas and Champaign to appear in court. Kendrick refused to stop fighting the false charges and pressured his lawyer to eventually prepare a motion demanding dismissal on the grounds of the lack of speedy trial and linking the two cases. The State's Attorney dropped the charges before this motion was ruled upon. Afterward, Kendrick stated, "It has been a long hard fight... but I knew I was innocent and never gave up."