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This week’s column focuses on Curry’s services to a prominent Paris, Illinois, businessman named Robert Morgan, who may have had absolutely nothing to do with a brutal double murder in Paris in 1986, but in the view of certain innocence industry cabalists deserved closer scrutiny than he ever got. Again Protess and his students got involved, and by 2005, when CBS’s 48 Hours came to town, Randy Steidl, one of the two local men convicted of the murders, was out of prison and the other, Herb Whitlock, had a figurative foot out the cell door (though he wouldn’t be sprung until 2008). Morgan retained Curry to defend his good name; and even then—a few years before the troubles that led to Medill’s repudiating Protess, who resigned in 2011—Curry decided that invoking Protess was a good way to go. Already Alstory Simon’s new attorneys were active on his behalf; so Curry wrote CBS a letter letting the network know that “a new and explosive post-conviction petition” had just been filed alleging “that Protess, his investigator, and an attorney, in effect ‘framed’ an innocent man in order to trigger the Porter exoneration.” Curry reminded CBS that Protess had “pointed the finger at our client” in an earlier 48 Hours report on the Paris murders (in 2000, though Curry’s letter said 2001), and if he were allowed to point it again and then the Porter petition turned out to be true, would you really want to have relied on this “discredited individual”?

CBS identified Morgan by name in 2005 despite Curry’s efforts, and the petition he warned CBS against went nowhere. But Simon and his attorneys are still at it, and they’ve had better luck in round two.

When Randy Steidl filed a wrongful conviction suit in 2004 (Whitlock later joined it), Sotos defended the city of Paris and Ekl defended Edgar County. But that’s not to say they have no place in their hearts for the little guy falsely accused. It was Sotos back in the day who told Curry about Alstory Simon; they represented Simon in 2005 and represent him still.

The idea didn’t get off the ground, but later Curry discussed it in a 2008 deposition.

Yes, said Curry.

“And you particularly wanted to use some of the commentators’ shows like O’Reilly and Hannity and some of the conservative types that frequent Fox News as talking heads, is that right?”