The Chicago Files----Police Torture in America

[Anja]

The Chicago Files----Police Torture in America


During the last four years, a court-appointed special prosecutor has spent
more than $5 million investigating a police torture ring that terrorized
nearly 200 Black men on Chicago's South Side during the 1970s, '80s and
'90s.

But the report has still not seen the light of day--kept under wraps by
the efforts of some of the city's most powerful politicians.

Edward Egan, a former Illinois appellate judge, issued subpoenas, reviewed
records of all sorts, heard testimony and finally wrote a report
documenting the findings of his investigation into the torture of African
American suspects in custody at Area 2 and Area 3 police headquarters.

Judge Paul Biebel, who appointed Egan, ruled that the report should be
released, calling the torture allegations an "open sore on the civic body
of the city of Chicago which has festered for many years." Biebel wrote
that the "interests of justice require the full publishing of the special
prosecutor's report." But the police under investigation and their allies
in the city's political machine have so far kept the findings under wraps.

The torturers

The facts of the Chicago police torture scandal are well established.
Former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and officers working under him
used a variety of torture techniques--Russian roulette, electroshock,
suffocation and beatings--to extract "confessions" during interrogations
at Area 2 and 3 police stations.

For more than a decade, the officers suffered no consequences for their
crimes. In fact, they were often promoted for "getting the bad guys" and
"closing their cases" with speed and certainty, at a time when politicians
nationally were declaring a "war on crime."

Even if their victims did come forward, the detectives reasoned, who would
take the word of poor, Black "criminals" over white cops? That assumption
served them well--until an anonymous tip written on a Chicago Police
Department (CPD) letterhead landed on the desk of Flint Taylor of the
People's Law Office.

Taylor was representing Andrew Wilson, who was beaten so badly by
detectives investigating a 1982 double police murder that he had to be
hospitalized. After Taylor filed a civil rights lawsuit on Wilson's
behalf, he received the tip, which encouraged him to interview Melvin
Jones, then being held at Cook County Jail. Jones suffered a torture
session so similar to Wilson's that it stunned Taylor.

Taylor himself uncovered 60 cases going back to 1983, and the numbers have
only increased since.

After Wilson won his suit, the CPD's own internal affairs division
launched an investigation. In his 1990 report, CPD investigator Michael
Goldston not only concluded that the torture had occurred, but that the
cover-up reached far up into the chain of command.

"The preponderance of evidence is that abuse did occur and that it was
systematic...that the type of abuse described was not limited to the usual
beatings, but went into such esoteric areas as psychological techniques
and planned torture...and that particular command members were aware of
the systematic abuse and perpetuated it, either by actively participating
in some or failing to take any action to bring it to an end," wrote
Goldston.

Grayland Johnson was one of the victims of this "planned torture." Police
handcuffed him to a metal ring in a wall and beat him with a telephone
book. They placed the book on his head and hit it with a long flashlight,
which produces an excruciating crushing sensation. Next, they put a
plastic typewriter cover over Grayland's head until he nearly suffocated.

Because Grayland still refused to confess and kept asking for a lawyer,
the cops hung him out a bathroom window, threatening to drop him and make
it look like he died during an escape attempt. When they brought him back
inside, they forced his head into a toilet that an officer had just
urinated in.

They continued with the typewriter cover, and Grayland could hear people
laughing as he was gagging for air. "Guess who, black person?" said the
detective who took the bag off his head.

Grayland ended up on death row. Prosecutors went so far as to use someone
else's medical records to cover up the abuse inflicted on Grayland.

Like many victims of torture, Grayland, who is still behind bars, carries
a sense of shame about what happened. "No, I don't like remembering what
they did, nor the fact that I was scared to tell the doctor all they had
done, because the police were there, and I feared they would take me back
and finish," said Grayland. "I don't like to remember because I was such a
coward not to make them kill me right there."

The cover-up

In all likelihood, Burge learned about electroshock while torturing
Vietnamese prisoners before he was honorably discharged from the military
in 1969--and brought the method back to Chicago's South Side.

On one end of the device he and his officers used are alligator clips,
which are attached to the ear lobes, testicles or limbs, or inserted into
the rectum. On the other end is a black box with a hand crank that acts as
a generator. The pain is intense.

The Goldston report led to Burge's forced retirement in 1993. But to this
day, Burge receives a police pension, enjoys the Florida sun and spends
time on his boat--aptly named The Vigilante--while many of his victims
still languish behind bars. Only 2 other officers were "disciplined" along
with Burge, and they were reinstated after serving relatively brief
suspensions.

How could torture carried out by Chicago police over two decades and
corroborated by the CPD's own investigation result in nothing more than
this? Goldston's report acknowledged the complicity of senior commanders,
but the report didn't say anything about the role of even more powerful
people outside the police department.

In 1980, Chicago's current Mayor Richard Daley was the Cook County State's
Attorney. As the city's top prosecutor, he added to his resum convictions
against defendants who had "confessed" during torture sessions conducted
by Burge and other officers. In 1989, Daley left the State's Attorney's
office to become mayor.

thingy Devine was Daley's right-hand man when the two held jobs at the
prosecutor's office, and he was eventually elected as Cook County State's
Attorney, a position he holds today.

How much did Daley and Devine know about Burge's activities? We may never
know the full extent, but we do know that former Chicago police
Superintendent Richard Brzeczek, now a criminal defense lawyer, received a
letter from Cook County Jail's chief physician documenting "electric
shocks" to a suspect's mouth and genitals.

Brzeczek wrote to State's Attorney Daley, seeking his direction on
proceeding with an investigation. "I will forbear from taking any steps
until I hear from you," wrote Brzeczek. Daley never responded.

"I think he was more concerned with making political decisions as to what
would be appropriate for his political career, rather than the appropriate
legal decision," Brzeczek told a reporter in May.

We also know that the city of Chicago spent more than $1 million in legal
fees defending Burge from torture allegations. And we know that thingy
Devine personally represented Burge in federal court on at least one
occasion--and that Devine billed the city $4,287.50 in fees for legal work
on Burge's behalf.

Daley and Devine have a lot to lose and nothing to gain from a new report
detailing the complicity of police and prosecutors in torture.

The struggle

For years, activists, lawyers and family members of torture victims
organized press conferences, pickets and lawsuits to publicize the
allegations against Burge. Their efforts paid off when a court ruled that
thingy Devine's conflict of interest in the case warranted the appointment
of a special prosecutor.

Recently, a series of pickets outside the special prosecutor's office
calling for the release of the report got headlines and lead coverage on
the local news. With all the attention, the campaign to get the report out
has taken on a life of its own.

In late May, Frank Sirtoff became the first independent eyewitness of the
torture to come forward. In 1975, he was a 14-year-old Boy Scout. Along
with his cousin, he regularly visited his scout leader, who was a
detective at Area 3 headquarters.

One day, they stumbled on a horrifying scene--a Black man strapped to a
chair with wires all over his body. "I've tried to put it in the back of
my mind most of the time and tried to live my life as good as I could,"
said Sirtoff, explaining his decision to put aside his fear and come
forward after all these years. "But after seeing something like that, it's
a life-changing experience."

The United Nations Committee Against Torture released a report in May,
noting "the limited investigation and lack of prosecution in respect of
the allegations of torture perpetrated in areas 2 and 3 of the Chicago
Police Department" and calling on authorities to "promptly, thoroughly and
impartially investigate all allegations of acts of torture" and to "bring
perpetrators to justice."

So far, a string of legal motions--first by police and now by the State's
Attorney's office--have bottled up the special prosecutor's report.

Darby Tillis, who spent more than nine years behind bars--several of them
on death row--before he was exonerated and released in 1987, has been
centrally involved in the struggle to expose police torture.

"One of my biggest concerns is the men rotting away in the penitentiary,"
Darby said of the delay in the release of the special prosecutor's report.
"If they can stall for two or three years and get it tied up in the
Illinois Supreme Court, that's two or three years that innocent men will
remain behind bars."

But with continued pressure, many think the report will come out
sooner--perhaps this summer. It's time that Jon Burge faces
prosecution--and that all the other powerful men who built careers by
victimizing poor Black men finally pay a price.

(source: CounterPunch (ERIC RUDER is a reporter for the Socialist Worker)

[SoulTrainOz]

Fired Chicago police commander Jon Burge and several officers who served under him tortured criminal suspects in the 1970s and 1980s, but can't be prosecuted because too much time has passed, court-appointed special prosecutors said today.

Concluding a four-year investigation, the prosecutors also said former Chicago Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek was guilty of "dereliction of duty" and acted in bad faith by not acting against Burge and even praising the detectives under his command despite harboring suspicions that the commander had mistreated prisoners.

"There are cases which we believe would justify our seeking indictments for mistreatment of prisoners by Chicago police officers," said the prosecutors, Edward Egan and Robert Boyle. Egan is a former judge and prosecutor while Boyle is a former prosecutor.

They were appointed in 2002 by Chief Criminal Court Judge Paul Biebel to investigate longstanding allegations of torture by Burge and his subordinates, as well as allegations of a coverup in the upper ranks of the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County state's attorney's office when it was run in the 1980s by Richard Daley, now mayor, and his top assistant, Richard Devine, now the state's attorney.

In their report, Egan and Boyle said they could find "no evidence that would support the charge beyond a reasonable doubt of obstruction of justice (or coverup) by any police personnel."

They also concluded that there was "insufficient evidence of wrongdoing by any member of the state's attorneys office except one person."

In addition to Burge, who was fired by the city in 1993 for the torture of a man later convicted of murder, the prosecutors identified four other police officers they alleged had tortured suspects.

"There are many other cases which lead us to believe or suspect that the claimants were abused but proof beyond a reasonable doubt is absent," the prosecutors said. "While not all the officers named by all the claimants were guilty of prisoner abuse, it is our judgement that the commander of the violent crimes section of Detective areas 2 and 3, (Burge) was guilty of such abuse. It necessarily follows that a number of those serving under his command recognize that if their commander could abuse persons with impunity, so could they."

"We have considered every possible legal theory that would permit us to avoid the effect of the state of limitations on any prosecution," the prosecutors said. "Regrettably, we have concluded that the statute of limitations would bar any prosecution of any offenses our investigation has disclosed."

More than 100 criminals suspects have complained over the years of being tortured by Burge or officers who worked for him. The city has spent millions of dollars defending itself in lawsuits filed in some of those cases.

(source: Chicago Tribune)

[SoulTrainOz]

Report: Cops used torture; Probe details extensive abuse by Chicago police in '70s, '80s

Former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge led the torture of criminal suspects for 2 decades, coercing dozens of confessions with fists, kicks, radiator burns, guns to the mouth, bags over the head and electric shock to the genitals, special prosecutors charged Wednesday.

Concluding a four-year probe, the prosecutors painted a portrait of a criminal justice system where top officials in a position to stop
Burge--among them Mayor Richard Daley, when he served as Cook County state's attorney--appeared blind to the abuse.

But, the prosecutors concluded, it's too late to pursue charges against Burge or any of the other officers. Statutes of limitations have long since run out on the cases, which they said stretched from the 1970s through the 1980s.

The prosecutors singled out for criticism former Chicago Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek, who served under Mayor Jane Byrne.

Brzeczek was guilty of "dereliction of duty," failing to act in the early 1980s on suspicions that Burge and detectives under his command had mistreated prisoners, the prosecutors said. Brzeczek publicly praised the detectives while privately harboring suspicions about their activities, the prosecutors alleged. His inaction, they added, allowed the torture of criminal suspects to continue for years.

"There are cases which we believe would justify our seeking indictments for mistreatment of prisoners by Chicago police officers," said the prosecutors, Edward Egan and Robert Boyle.

Their conclusions could find their way into civil lawsuits that former death row inmates have filed against Burge and the city. Officials at the state appellate defender's office said they will study the report for evidence of additional wrongful convictions that might be appealed.

Meanwhile, the office of U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald requested a copy of the 290-page report. The Justice Department during the Clinton administration had looked into torture allegations against Burge and determined they were too old to prosecute.

It is not clear what Fitzgerald can do with the new information, but civil rights attorneys said it could provide a road map for prosecutors to investigate possible civil rights violations by Burge and others, including high-ranking officials who may have looked the other way.

At the same time, however, the special prosecutors said their
investigation raised doubts about torture claims leveled by a handful of former death row inmates pardoned by former Gov. George Ryan, who said their confessions had been coerced by Burge.

The special prosecutors said they did not believe Leroy Orange had been tortured and were suspicious of the claims of Madison Hobley, Stanley Howard and, to a lesser degree, Aaron Patterson.

Burge was fired by the Chicago Police Board in 1993 for allegedly
torturing a murder suspect. He lives in Florida and still receives a
monthly city pension of more than $3,400.

Burge has consistently denied torture allegations. His lawyer, Richard T. Sikes Jr., said Wednesday that Burge "stands on that" claim, and pointed to the report's skepticism about some torture claims as partial validation.

The city has spent at least $7 million so far defending itself in lawsuits arising from torture allegations tied to Burge, who invoked his 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination when called to testify before a grand jury. The special prosecutor investigation cost nearly $6.2 million.

"Anyone who thinks it necessary to solve crime by abusing people to get confessions from them is a disgrace," Boyle said.

Egan, a former judge and prosecutor, and Boyle, also a former prosecutor, were appointed in 2002 by Chief Criminal Court Judge Paul Biebel Jr. to investigate long-standing allegations against Burge.

Egan and Boyle said they launched detailed investigations into 148 cases, almost all involving minority suspects, and determined about half were credible.

Egan and Boyle said the evidence of abuse in at least 3 of the cases was so strong they were convinced they could prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt if they could prosecute.

The most high-profile of those cases involved Andrew Wilson, arrested along with his brother in 1982 for the murders of two Chicago policemen. The special prosecutors said a confession was beaten out of Wilson, allegedly by Burge and his men, and was later used to convict him.

The conviction and death sentence were overturned, but he was convicted at a retrial and is serving a life sentence. His lawyers now acknowledge his guilt, the report said.

Despite his 2nd conviction, Wilson sued Burge and others, claiming that while in custody he was kicked, slapped and punched, burned in the arm with a cigarette and had a plastic bag put over his head. Wilson said Burge, who was then commander of the Area 2 violent crimes unit on the South Side, applied electronic shocking devices to his ear, fingers and genitals and pressed him against a hot radiator, causing burns. Burge also put a gun inside the suspect's mouth and clicked it, Wilson claimed.

Burge has denied the allegations in court testimony.

A Cook County jail doctor who later examined Wilson sent a letter to Brzeczek indicating Wilson had been beaten and tortured. Attaching a copy of the doctor's note, Brzeczek then wrote Daley seeking guidance about how to proceed. Despite regular contact with Daley's office, Brzeczek posted this letter in the U.S. mail.

"If Supt. Brzeczek had done his duty to investigate the Andrew Wilson case, we would not be here today," Egan said. "The superintendent did not conduct a meaningful examination [of the allegations] in that letter and he tried to palm it off on somebody else."

By focusing criticism on him, Brzeczek said the special prosecutors have dodged fully explaining the responsibility that Daley may have borne, as well as the conduct of Burge's more immediate supervisors.

Responsibility for dealing with the allegations ended up with William Kunkle, then chief deputy state's attorney and the prosecutor assigned to the Wilson case, who took no action against Burge.

The report criticized Kunkle, now a Cook County judge, for his
explanations for burn marks on Wilson. The special prosecutors called the burn marks the most important physical corroboration of Wilson's torture account.

Kunkle tried to convince special prosecutors that officers who transported Wilson after his questioning inflicted the burns.

The report scoffs at that possibility, in part because the so-called wagon men were never questioned about Wilson or charged with abusing him.

State's Atty. Richard Devine, who was Daley's first assistant prosecutor in the early 1980s, said claims of systemic abuse at Area 2 had not "crystallized" at that time and it was not unexpected that defendants in a high-profile murder case would later claim their confessions had been coerced.

"We cannot undo the past," he said. "We can only commit ourselves to doing all in our power to prevent such abuses from happening in the future."

Ald. Ed Smith (28th) chairman of the City Council's black caucus, said he found it "absolutely disgusting" that Burge may emerge free of prosecution.

"That was one of the things that people talked about early on, that they were dragging the process to allow this to happen because they knew he was guilty," Smith said. "There might be some credibility to that."

Key findings

- Torture claims by Andrew Wilson, Alfonzo Pinex and Phillip Adkins "establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

- Statute of limitations prevents any prosecution of officers involved in torture.

- Former Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek deemed guilty of a "dereliction of duty" for not investigating torture claims.

- Some torture claims are found not credible, including those that
prompted then- Gov. George Ryan to pardon Leroy Orange in 2003.

- - -

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Peter Dignan----One-time police lieutenant accused of torture has taken the 5th in legal proceedings related to the Jon Burge allegations. Once accused of placing a shotgun in the mouth of suspect Darrell Cannon during questioning in a drug-related murder in 1983, a claim Cannon later dropped.

Hired as an investigator for the Cook County sheriff's office in 2003.

John Byrne----Former police sergeant long considered Burge's right-hand man. Once accused in the alleged Cannon torture, and accused in the alleged abuse of ex-death row inmates including Stanley Howard. Has asserted 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

Retired and now works as a private investigator.

Michael Hoke----Former Burge partner who rose to head internal affairs for the Police Department. Hoke was granted immunity in the special prosecutors' investigation.

Now retired.

Daniel McWeeny----Former officer who testified in the investigation after being granted immunity. Once helped circulate a petition to have Burge reinstated after his 1993 firing.

Now an investigator for the Cook County state's attorney's office.

LeRoy Martin----Former police superintendent who briefly was a commander over Burge at Area 2 and has denied knowing suspects were abused there. As superintendent, he moved to fire Burge after initially defending officers against an internal report on torture allegations.

Now supervisor of investigators for the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Aaron Patterson----Former death row prisoner alleged he was tortured at Area 2 during an investigation of the 1986 murders of Vincent and Rafaela Sanchez, saying a typewriter bag was placed over his head to get him to confess. Pardoned in 2003 by former Gov. George Ryan.

Convicted and awaiting sentencing in a 2004 federal drug conspiracy case.

Richard Devine----First assistant state's attorney from 1981 to 1983. Also once worked for a law firm that defended Burge, leading Cook County's chief Criminal Court judge to decide in 2002 that Devine had a conflict of interest in investigating the torture claims.

Now Cook County state's attorney


Key points during allegations of police torture

1970

Jon Burge joins the Chicago Police Department as a recruit. He serves in investigative posts through the 1970s and is commander from 1981.

1982

FEBRUARY: Police question Andrew Wilson, a suspect in the fatal shooting of 2 officers.

FEB. 17: The Cook County Jail doctor sends a letter to Chicago Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek that says an examination of Wilson showed he suffered multiple injuries before entering the jail.

FEB. 25: Brzeczek forwards the doctor's letter to Richard Daley, who was Cook County state's attorney at the time, and asks him for guidance on how to proceed with an investigation. Daley never responded, according to Brzeczek.

1983

Wilson and his brother, Jackie, are convicted of the killings for the 1st time. Andrew Wilson is sentenced to death.

1987

The Illinois Supreme Court reverses the Wilsons' convictions, citing evidence that Andrew Wilson was coerced and beaten in police custody. Both Wilsons later are convicted again and sentenced to life terms.

1989

In a $10 million suit against the City of Chicago, Burge and 3 other police officers, Wilson testifies that they beat, suffocated and electrocuted him during interrogations.

1992

FEBRUARY: An internal department report unsealed in a federal court hearing charges that at least 7 officers at the Area 2 police station on the South Side carried out "systematic torture" from 1973 to 1986. It also charges that police supervisors knew of the abuse.

1993

Burge is fired after the Chicago Police Board determines that he held Andrew Wilson against a hot radiator in order to get a confession in the murder case of the 2 officers.

2002

APRIL: Cook County Judge Paul Biebel appoints Edward Egan and Robert Boyle as special prosecutors to investigate allegations that Burge and officers under him used torture to coerce confessions from more than 200 suspects in the 1970s and '80s.

2006

JULY: Special prosecutors say Burge and several officers under him were guilty of abuse but cannot be prosecuted because too much time has passed. Their report also says Brzeczek was guilty of "dereliction of duty" for not acting against Burge.

[sources: Tribune reports, U.S. District Court 1988 deposition of Burge]

Chicago Tribune

By the numbers

LEGAL COSTS

$7.2 million----Minimum estimated amount City of Chicago and Cook County have spent so far on investigations, outside counsel and settlements for cases in which former police Cmdr. Jon Burge or his associates were accused of torturing suspects

Includes $2.1 million----Cost so far in cases involving former death row inmate Aaron Patterson, who was pardoned of murder in 2003 and who alleges that police tortured him to obtain a false confession in the 1980s and $531,227--Cost for outside counsel for proceedings to fire Burge from the department for torturing a suspect

PENSION

$3,403----Monthly pension paid to Burge

THE BURGE REPORT

$6.2 million----Cost to Cook County taxpayers for special prosecutors' investigation and 292-page report into torture allegations

4 years, 3 months--Time spent investigating torture allegations

33,360--Individual documents reviewed

700--People questioned in the investigation

217--Grand jury subpoenas issued

148--Cases fully investigated, about half of which were found to have involved torture

[sources: City of Chicago Department of Law, Policemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund, special prosecutors office]

(source: Chicago Tribune)

[SoulTrainOz]

Brzeczek says he's scapegoat

Special prosecutors have singled out former Chicago Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek for dropping the ball on evidence that a murder suspect was tortured in police custody in 1982 -- but Brzeczek insists he is being made a scapegoat to protect Mayor Daley.

"From my first meeting with the prosecutors, they gave me every indication they would blame this on me," said Brzeczek, who ran the department from 1981 to 1983. "Does Daley ever wear the jacket for anything? No. I know the guy can't speak, but I did not know he could not read."

Sent Daley letter on abuse in '82

Brzeczek was referring to a letter he sent to Daley in February 1982 seeking direction on how to investigate evidence of abuse of Andrew Wilson, a suspect in the killing of two cops that month. The letter included a jail doctor's finding that Wilson suffered facial injuries and signs of radiator burns.

Suspects tortured but it's too late for charges

Yes, Chicago Police tortured suspects, but it happened too long ago to charge the officers. And Mayor Daley, who was state's attorney at the time, did nothing "prosecutable" by handing off a request from then-Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek to investigate a murder suspect's torture allegations.

Daley, the Cook County state's attorney at the time, did not respond to Brzeczek's letter. Yet he was unscathed in the special prosecutors' report issued Wednesday. Instead, the report said Brzeczek should have pressed for an answer from Daley.

"The evidence supports the conclusion that Supt. Brzeczek was guilty of a dereliction of duty and did not act in good faith in the investigation of the claim of Andrew Wilson," according to the report.

The special prosecutors also blasted him for keeping police Cmdr. Jon Burge in command at Area 2 detective headquarters. Burge was accused of torturing Wilson.

Brzeczek told a grand jury last year that "I am neither proud nor
satisfied of the way that investigation came out." But he said Wednesday that many other people in authority were privy to information about Wilson's torture allegations and did not take action against Burge or his detectives. Among them was his successor, former Police Supt. Fred Rice, who promoted Burge.

Still holds a grudge

Brzeczek holds a grudge against Daley, whose state's attorney's office prosecuted him on charges of theft and misconduct. Brzeczek was acquitted in 1987.

He insists the charges were politically motivated because he ran
unsuccessfully against Daley for state's attorney in 1984.

Source: Chicago Sun-Tribune

[SoulTrainOz]

Suspects tortured but it's too late for charges

Yes, Chicago Police tortured suspects, but it happened too long ago to charge the officers.

And Mayor Daley, who was state's attorney at the time, did nothing "prosecutable" by handing off a request from then-Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek to investigate a murder suspect's torture allegations. Daley passed the request to top aide thingy Devine, who passed it to the office's No. 3 man William Kunkle, who handed it off to another prosecutor. It was never investigated.

Daley and Devine could and should have followed up on the torture allegations, but Brzeczek deserves the lion's share of blame.

Those are among the findings laid out by special prosecutors in a
long-awaited 300-page report released Wednesday. The document is the fruit of a 4-year, $7 million investigation into accusations that former police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his men used electric shocks and fists to get confessions. In almost all cases, the officers were white and the victims black.

3 cases warranted prosecution

"This investigation we have conducted would never have been necessary if Richard Brzeczek had done his . . . duty," concludes the report by Special Prosecutor Edward Egan, a retired appellate justice.

Brzeczek blasted the report as "scapegoating" him.

In at least three of the 148 torture allegations -- including the one that Daley, Devine, Kunkle and others failed to pursue -- Egan said he would have brought criminal charges against the officers. But the statute of limitations has run out.

"So Jon Burge is not going to be charged, and we're still paying his pension," lamented Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th), an attorney who represented a victim in one of those cases.

Burge, in semi-retirement near Tampa, Fla., offered no comment as he fetched mail in loafers, jean shorts and a polo shirt Wednesday afternoon, other than asking a TV news crew if they could shave a few pounds off his frame.

Report called 'whitewash'

Attorneys for alleged torture victims dismissed the report as a
"whitewash."

"It's deeply puzzling to us that Richard Brzeczek could be so strongly condemned for failing to take action when the state's attorney of Cook County, now the mayor of the city of Chicago, was equally aware of the torture," attorney Locke Bowman said.

"Daley and Devine are ultimately culpable. . . . What did they do?
Nothing," said attorney Flint Taylor.

Even the special prosecutor's office was critical of Daley.

"We accept Mayor Daley's explanation, but would not have done it the way that he did," said Egan's deputy, Robert Boyle, who added that he and Egan interviewed Daley and Devine, now the Cook County state's attorney.

Egan said at least a dozen police officers in Burge's "midnight crew" at the Area 2 police station in Pullman tortured suspects, and at least 3 former prosecutors acquiesced or at least failed to ask why suspects appeared battered and bruised.

Because the statute of limitations has expired for all these crimes, Burge and his underlings will never be charged unless federal prosecutors can find a way.

"They have RICO and the Hobbs Act," Boyle said, referring to federal laws with longer statutes of limitations than state criminal law. But twice before federal prosecutors have investigated torture claims against Burge's crew and found insufficient evidence.

'I think it's a joke'

In at least half the 145 non-prosecutable cases, Egan "believes" torture took place but does not have the evidence to prove it.

"I think it's a joke. I think it's a whitewash. For $7 million, what did they find out that we didn't already know?" said Frank Avila, who represents alleged victim Aaron Patterson.

Andrew Wilson is another alleged victim. He was a suspect in the 1982 murder of 2 Chicago cops -- and was eventually convicted. Dr. John Raba, director of medical services at the Cook County Jail hospital, found burn marks on his body consistent with being handcuffed to a radiator. Raba wrote Brzeczek a letter saying Wilson had clearly been tortured and urged an investigation.

Brzeczek forwarded the letter to Daley, saying he would wait for
instructions on how to proceed so as not to jeopardize the murder case against Wilson.

Daley and Devine were new to their jobs. They trusted Kunkle -- the man who prosecuted John Wayne Gacy and the main prosecutor on Wilson's case -- to handle the investigation, Daley and Devine told special prosecutors. Kunkle handed it off to prosecutor Frank DeBoni, the report says.

DeBoni told special prosecutors that Kunkle or someone else had told him that Wilson's lawyer would be calling him if Wilson wanted to pursue charges against the officers.

Kunkle and DeBoni are now Cook County judges.

Special prosecutors said Kunkle had a conflict of interest handling the investigation of Wilson's torture allegations at the same time he was heading the prosecution against Wilson.

During their interview with Kunkle, he did not recall much and could not offer explanations for his ever-changing reasons for Wilson's burns. He tried to convince Egan and Boyle that the officers in the squadrol transporting Wilson beat him.

'Seeming inconsistencies'

"In four separate hearings, Judge Kunkle took four separate positions -- no explanation; no burns; self-inflicted burns; and last, self-inflicted burns or alternatively, burns caused by the wagon men," the report states. "When we questioned Judge Kunkle, we sought some explanation of the seeming inconsistencies in the positions he had taken. He invoked the
attorney-client privilege. Our hopes that Judge Kunkle . . . would shed some light on the question were dashed."

Kunkle is just one of many prosecutors mentioned in the report who have gone on to become judges, appellate justices, even attorneys with the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C.

The prosecutor singled out for the harshest criticism is Larry Hyman, now an attorney in private practice, who took the alleged confession from Wilson.

Wilson said he told Hyman that police beat him. Hyman refused to be interviewed by Egan and Boyle. Hyman's attorney Ralph Meczyk called the report "slanderous."

Devine defends tenure

"Larry saw no obvious bruises, except the one over his eye," Meczyk said. Hyman asked the officer how Wilson was injured, Meczyk said, adding the officer said it happened during the course of the arrest. "Wilson didn't quarrel with it. He didn't deny it," Meczyk said.

Had Wilson's case been adequately investigated back in 1982, it could have stopped another 10 years of torture by Burge's crew, Egan and Boyle said.

Devine defended his tenure, saying he has prosecuted 125 police officers for various offenses. After talking with Boyle and Egan, his office, along with the Chicago Police Department, implemented new procedures to prevent abuses.

Instead of waiting for the Office of Professional Standards to turn over "ripe" allegations of police misconduct, the police and prosecutors now meet monthly so prosecutors can jump on any hot charges. Prosecutors are compiling a database of officers with repeat charges of brutality.

(source: Chicago Sun-Times)

[SoulTrainOz]

A tortuous path to not blaming Daley

If there's anything that qualifies as a white paper--one of those lengthy political policy reports--it's the 292-page tome released Wednesday by special prosecutors with Regular Democratic Organization roots.

They investigated the torture of suspected criminals by former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge in the 1980s. The victims were minorities, some confessed under torture and were later sentenced to death, prosecuted by a Cook County state's attorney who had big political ambitions.

And the conclusions?

Mayor Richard Daley was not to blame for not investigating, though he was Cook County state's attorney for much of the period. Back then, he campaigned for mayor as the law-and-order candidate. But don't blame him, said special prosecutors Edward Egan and Robert Boyle.

"We accept his explanation, but would not do it the same way he did," Boyle said.

That's nice. I mean, it's nice for the mayor. He's got pressures--federal pressure, budget pressure and political pressure. He just installed pliant Ald. Todd Stroger (8th) as the Democratic Party's candidate for Cook County Board president, without appearing to pull any strings for Todd, now referred to openly as Urkel.

Black votes are vitally important to white Democratic bosses like Daley, as important as water to a man alone in the desert, because without black votes, there's nothing. So in the white paper, blame was not applied to the mayor. The authors found others to blame, including former Chicago Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek.

"They spent 4 years and almost $7 million to say it's Brzeczek's fault," Brzeczek told me Wednesday. "Years ago, when they appointed Democratic sycophants to investigate this, I said they'd blame me, and they did. I'm not a Daley guy. This whole thing is about covering Daley's [posterior]."

Flynt Taylor is director of the People's Law Office, which fights wrongful convictions. He's no fan of Brzeczek's. But on this point, Taylor agrees.

"I'm not absolving Brzeczek," Taylor told me. "He was superintendent when Jon Burge was active. But he at least passed on the information about Burge to Daley, and Daley, as state's attorney, did nothing. This paper is nothing but a major effort to deflect blame from where it belongs. The man who should be blamed is Daley."

In February 1982, Andrew Wilson was arrested for the murder of two Chicago police officers. Wilson was convicted twice, the 1st conviction overturned because of torture allegations. The second conviction was upheld. He remains in prison for life, and the report said even his lawyers concede he murdered the officers.

Back in 1982, Wilson was taken to Area 2 detective headquarters on the South Side for interrogation under Burge. Dr. John Raba, director of Cermak Hospital, later examined Wilson, determined his patient had been tortured, and quickly complained to then-Supt. Brzeczek in a letter:

"I examined Mr. Andrew Wilson on Feb. 15 & 16, 1982. He had multiple bruises, swellings and abrasions on his face and head. His right eye was battered and had a superficial laceration. Andrew Wilson had several linear blisters on his right thigh, right cheek and anterior chest which were consistent with radiator burns. He stated he'd been cuffed to a radiator and pushed into it. He also stated that electrical shocks had been administered to his gums, lips and genitals. All these injuries occurred prior to his arrival at the Jail. There must be a thorough investigation of this alleged brutality."

Brzeczek forwarded that letter to then-Cook County State's Atty. Daley. And what did Daley do with it?

Not much.

He passed it along. Maybe. He really doesn't know what happened, according to the report. The mayor echoed a mantra he's used repeatedly, namely, that he can't remember.

"He assumes the letter directed to him by Brzeczek with the enclosed letter from Dr. Raba was directed to his First Assistant Richard Devine [now Cook County state's attorney] ... It was probably discussed with him and Devine. He has no current memory of how the letter was processed," the report said.

Boyle and Egan had a different conclusion when it came to Brzeczek, who was Daley's 1984 Republican opponent for state's attorney.

"He did not just do his job poorly," Boyle told reporters. "He just didn't do his job."

"If Supt. Brzeczek had done his duty to investigate the Andrew Wilson case, we would not be here today," Egan said.

I'm not saying Brzeczek is an angel. He was the boss cop when Burge was torturing folks. His chief of detectives, William Hanhardt, would later be revealed as an Outfit appendage.

But Daley was state's attorney, and Brzeczek sent him the letter. Daley should have done something. He didn't. Now, with the statute of limitations having run out, there won't be any troublesome prosecutions.

So a white paper was required, to put a political lid on things. And a white paper was delivered, along with some whitewash.

(source: Column, John Kass, Chicago Tribune)

[SoulTrainOz]

The final word on cop torture lacks outrage Dude, where's my adjectives?

Where's my "appalling"? My "unconscionable"? My "malignant"? My "degrading and offensive"?

For $6 million, I expected a far more vigorous use of the thesaurus than I heard during news conference Wednesday morning at which special prosecutors presented the results (.pdf) of a 4-year investigation into allegations that Chicago police tortured suspects from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s.

Instead, the most memorable fragment of rhetoric from the event was chief deputy special state's attorney Robert Boyle's declaration, "We reflect in the report on what we believe was a bit of a slippage in the (Cook County) State's Attorney's Office at the time of the (Andrew) Wilson case."

Wilson killed 2 police officers in 1982 and was sadistically worked over during interrogations by an Area 2 police crew led by the now infamous Cmdr. Jon Burge. That beating ultimately proved a window into numerous others incidents, but information about it was brushed off at the time by then States Atty. and now Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

A bit of slippage?

Yes. "We regretfully must say that we think that there was a bit of a slide in the State's Attorney's Office at that time," said Boyle, 69, who was an assistant Cook County state's attorney in the 1960s. "(We realized) full well the uncomfortable position that we would have felt if we were trying to make some judgments relative to procedures followed at the time of, and subsequent to, the questioning of someone who had, in cold blood, killed 2 young police officers...But I'm not going to do a harangue about
it."

A brief harangue would have been nice, actually.

Some indignation. A bit of thunder about violations of the finest
traditions of American justice.

Boyle and chief special prosecutor Edward Egan, 83, a former Appellate Court judge who was also a county prosecutor, led a team that spent nearly $6.2 million, interviewed more than 700 witnesses and found credible allegations that 75 suspects were abused by Chicago Police as part of an "ongoing" practice. They put together the most exhaustive and now final word on a pattern of misbehavior that created a scandal that tarnished
local law enforcement worldwide.

And yet they somehow managed to make their presentation boring. In language and in tone, they sounded like a couple of Justice Department bureaucrats laying out a tax-fraud case.

"When you look at the conclusion it should be clear to you that we, as an office, have made the judgment that, at Area 2 and 3 starting in the mid '70s and into the very early `90s, that there was physical violence on parties in custody who were being questioned," Boyle intoned.

He did not use the word "torture" until the Q. & A. period following extended introductory remarks, when WLS Ch. 7 reporter Charles Thomas goaded him into it.

No one used the D-word - "disgrace" - until 80 minutes into the 90 minute news conference when the Tribune's Carlos Sadovi asked for an assessment of the legacy of Jon Burge, who was fired in 1993 and now lives in Florida.

"A disgrace," Boyle said. "Anybody who thinks that it's necessary to solve crime by abusing people to get confessions from them is a disgrace. And I think most policemen would agree with that."

The report is thorough and appropriately cautious about what can and can't be known for sure about events that happened long ago. It's persuasive inexplaining why the statute of limitations "regrettably" prevents the state from indicting anyone.

But it fails as an effort to "put this to rest," as Boyle said the report had done. Without the language of anger, regret and even shame to surround the voluminous facts, the stain remains.

"That's not my way," Boyle said afterwards when I asked why he and Egan had so pointedly refused to use such words as "systemic" to describe the police misconduct. "Maybe I'm not a good actor. My job is not to be passionate. My job is to follow a court order. I'm not a politician. I'm not up here to sway anyone. I said that people didn't do their jobs. Maybe if I'd had a little more passion and played some organ music behind me I would have been more effective."

Nah. But a sad song on a violin might have helped.

(source: Column, Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune)

[SoulTrainOz]

Getting away with torture

4 years ago, the presiding judge of Cook County's criminal courts
appointed a special prosecutor to investigate widespread allegations that Chicago police systematically tortured African-Americans who were being held as prisoners.

The gross abuses allegedly occurred from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. By the time this scandal came to the attention of presiding Judge Paul Biebel, it was probably too late to prosecute any abusers on state charges. Honorably, Biebel didn't care. He hoped a full accounting would help to clear the stain on Cook County's criminal justice system.

The 292-page special prosecutor's report released Wednesday paints for the 1st time the complete and utterly disgraceful picture of institutional abuse under former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge.

Special prosecutor Edward Egan and his first assistant, Robert Boyle, said they believe abuses occurred in about half of the 148 cases they reviewed. There would have been enough evidence to seek indictments in 3 of those cases. But it's too late to do that. They're too old. The statute of limitations has run its course.

Edgar and Boyle are veterans of the Cook County state's attorney's office. Egan is a former appellate judge. By all evidence they went to extraordinary lengths to be fair in this investigation. They found that some of the accusations of abuse were false. Others couldn't be sustained.

But the bottom line is this: They found reason to believe the claims of terrible abuse in more than 70 cases. So why did that violent pattern fail to earn special attention from police investigators and prosecutors at the time it happened? When the same names of police officers kept coming up in reports, the same torture techniques kept arising in the same region of the city, why didn't the leaders of the Chicago Police Department or the Cook County state's attorney's office muster a thimbleful of outrage--or even enough curiosity to go after them?

The special prosecutors Wednesday politely suggested "there might have been some slippage" in the state's attorney's office at the time.

In the early 1980s, the office was headed by Richard M. Daley, now mayor, and, just under him, Richard Devine, now Cook County state's attorney. "There was not a context at the time of, `Gee, there had been 50 charges or 50 claims against this particular officer, so there better be a heads-up,'" the report stated.

The report singles out former Police Supt. Richard J. Brzeczek for
"dereliction of duty"--it says he did not act in good faith in
investigating torture allegations made by Andrew Wilson, who was convicted of murdering 2 police officers. Wilson alleged he had been beaten, burned and shocked with electricity while he was in custody. Doctors found burns on his leg and clip marks on his ears. Years later, his allegations of torture were sustained in an administrative proceeding to fire Burge. The special prosecutors said there was enough evidence to convict Burge in the case of Wilson.

Egan and Boyle said that Burge's team would occasionally make suspects play Russian roulette, hook them up to electric-shock devices, stick guns in their mouths or put bags over their heads. More often, the weapons of choice were officers' fists, feet and telephone books, which they slammed on the heads of suspects.

Prosecution of many of these cases apparently would have been difficult. Those who committed the abuse knew how to cover up their handiwork. "You're lucky if you could proceed with 1 percent of the cases," Boyle said.

But prosecution would have been possible in some cases. And short of prosecution, if anyone in authority had spoken out, the torture techniques that went on for years in the hidden corners of Chicago police facilities could have been stopped.

No one did. No one stopped it. Those who could have apparently didn't care enough to try. That is Chicago's shame.

(source: Editorial, Chicago Tribune)

[SoulTrainOz]

Daley in legal cross hairs

Lawyers suing over police torture try to establish what mayor knew

A day after the release of a historic report on police torture, attorneys for 4 men who say their confessions were coerced served federal subpoenas on the special prosecutors Thursday, seeking records of Mayor Richard Daley's testimony.

Attorney Flint Taylor, who represents pardoned Death Row inmate Leroy Orange and convicted murderer Darrell Cannon, said he is pursuing the information as a 1st step toward naming Daley as a co-defendant in ongoing federal lawsuits against the city, prosecutors and police officers.

Daley was Cook County state's attorney during much of the period in which police torture took place, special prosecutor Edward Egan found. Egan's team interviewed Daley, and the report devoted three of its 290 pages to what Daley knew and did not know about the allegations.

Taylor's subpoena also focused on information obtained from Cook County State's Atty. Richard Devine, former Mayor Jane Byrne, former Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek and Cook County Judge William Kunkle.

Egan's long-awaited report found that for two decades, former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and officers under him tortured criminal suspects into making confessions. The allegations have been the subject of lawsuits and led to Burge's firing in 1993.

In 2003, Gov. George Ryan pardoned Orange and fellow death row inmates Madison Hobley, Stanley Howard and Aaron Patterson, citing evidence of torture and coerced confessions by officers under Burge.

Kurt Feuer, an attorney for Howard and Hobley, filed a similar subpoena Thursday and said Daley "ought to be" named as a defendant in their federal lawsuits. But he does not intend to add Daley as an individual defendant in his cases, he said--a decision made early on, in hopes the cases would progress more quickly.

Taylor said he believes the report shows Daley was aware that Brzeczek, then police superintendent, sent him a 1982 letter requesting direction on how to handle torture allegations against Burge and others.

Daley "never before admitted under oath or anywhere he was aware of that letter," Taylor said.

Brzeczek's letter related to claims that Andrew Wilson, later convicted in the murder of 2 police officers, was severely beaten, burned and given electric shocks while in police custody. The report is oblique, however, in its treatment of what Daley knew of Brzeczek's letter regarding Wilson.

The report states that Daley "assumes that he was advised of the letter." Daley also said the letter "was probably discussed with him and Devine," the report states.

But it asserts that Daley "has no current memory of how the letter was processed."

Daley has no comment

A spokeswoman for Daley declined comment but said the mayor might take questions at an event Friday.

Though Taylor said the report incriminated the mayor, he criticized the report as an attempt to whitewash Daley and Devine's involvement in the torture scandal.

Aside from Burge, the officials criticized most severely in the report are Brzeczek and Kunkle, then an assistant state's attorney and now a Republican Cook County judge.

Brzeczek should have done more to investigate the Wilson case, and Kunkle attempted to explain away burns on Wilson's legs, the report concluded.

"The only guy who ever did anything about this torture is the guy who got named," Taylor said, referring to Brzeczek. "The only [former] assistant state's attorney they're decrying is a Republican."

Taylor dismissed, meanwhile, the report's finding that there was no evidence Orange was tortured into confessing.

While special prosecutors said they had reason to believe about half the 148 claims of abuse they investigated, they singled out Orange's allegation as one that was not persuasive. The report also cited suspicions about claims from Hobley, Howard and Patterson.

The officers allegedly involved in the torture of Orange refused to
testify before the special prosecutor, Taylor said.

Despite the report's lengthy legal analysis resulting in the conclusion that it is too late to prosecute the officers for taking part in a conspiracy, one of Taylor's partners, attorney Joey Mogul, called on the U.S. attorney's office to pursue federal conspiracy charges. Mogul said conspiracy charges are founded because the officers acted in bad faith by refusing to testify before a grand jury convened by the special prosecutor.

Many invoked the 5th Amendment before that grand jury, Mogul said, but after it became clear that no indictments would be handed down, they testified under oath in federal lawsuits that no torture occurred.

"What we have seen are a manipulation of the courts by various officers and officials," Mogul said.

2 new cases come in

Also Thursday, Robert Boyle, chief deputy special prosecutor, appeared before Cook County Chief Criminal Court Judge Paul Biebel Jr. to begin planning for how to conclude his office's work. Boyle said the special prosecutor's office had received two new cases to investigate just weeks ago.

Biebel said the special prosecutors had met his mandate and ordered them to make more copies of the report. "It's in the public's interest to make this available," Biebel ordered.

After the hearing, Burge's lawyer Richard Sikes Jr. told reporters his client had mixed emotions about the report.

"He's pleased with what we thought all along--that the torture claims [involving Orange, Patterson, Hobley and Howard] were unfounded. As far as the other aspects of the report ... he's disappointed about it, but he's in good spirits. It's all based on allegations he has heard years ago," Sikes said.

As for Boyle calling Burge a disgrace, Sikes said, "Nobody is happy to be treated in that light."

At a meeting of the Police Board Thursday night, President Demetrius Carney said the board takes allegations of misconduct seriously. He pointed out that the board followed procedures in the Burge case, firing the police commander.

After Police Supt. Philip Cline reiterated his assertion that the
department is much different now than 30 years ago, a dozen residents made complaints before the board, many of them comparing their allegations to those in the Burge report.

(source: Chicago Tribune)

[SoulTrainOz]

No statute of limitations on disbarment for torture

Chicago Police tortured suspects in their custody, and nothing was done about it, and there's little we can do now. That's a brief synopsis of the frustrating report from special prosecutors appointed to look into allegations of police brutality against former Cmdr. Jon Burge and his men. But there is hope for a small measure of justice. Federal charges can't be ruled out. And lawyers who looked the other way can and should be investigated for their inaction.

Special prosecutors Edward Egan and Robert Boyle spent 4 years and $7 million investigating allegations against Burge -- who was fired in 1993 -- and his men. They probed 148 allegations, finding credible evidence of torture in more than half but enough evidence to bring charges in just 3. However, the statute of limitations has run out, making charges impossible.

Perhaps a tenacious federal prosecutor can find a way to bring federal charges. Fortunately, a tenacious federal prosecutor is just what we have in Patrick Fitzgerald. His office is reviewing the report, and we trust he'll do what he can.

Which brings us to the men who could have done something sooner. Egan and Boyle point the finger at several police officials and prosecutors who were aware of abuse allegations in the case that brought the issue to the forefront, that of Andrew Wilson. Wilson was arrested (and eventually convicted) for the murder of 2 cops in 1982. The special prosecutors determined that evidence of Wilson's torture was so overwhelming that
Burge could have been convicted of aggravated battery. But neither Burge's superiors nor prosecutors did anything, despite a letter from a Cook County Jail doctor who urged a probe because he thought police had abused Wilson.

The list of men who, according to the report, didn't follow up is long. It includes Mayor Daley, who was then Cook County state's attorney; Richard Devine, who is now state's attorney but was then Daley's top aide; William Kunkle, who prosecuted the Wilson case and is now a judge; Lawrence Hyman, who was Daley's chief of felony review and who took Wilson's confession, and Frank DeBoni, who was a prosecutor and is now a judge.

Anyone holding a law license can be disciplined by the state Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission. The agency does not say whether it is conducting a disciplinary proceeding, but Chief Counsel James Grogan notes that it generally pays close attention to such things as reports from special prosecutors. And no statute of limitations applies.

Investigating the lawyers may seem like a small gesture, but disbarment is a serious step and should be pursued where the evidence warrants. The men -- and former Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek, another lawyer, who was harshly criticized by the report -- didn't carry out the abuse, but they could have stopped it in 1982. They bear some responsibility, and should be held accountable.

(source: Editorial, Chicago Sun-Times)

[SoulTrainOz]

Daley: Cops responsible for torture

Mayor Daley said Friday he's willing to accept his share of responsibility and "apologize to anyone" for the torture of suspects by former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge, but the ultimate responsibility rests with the Chicago Police Department.

2 days after a special prosecutor's report made then-Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek the primary fall guy for Burge's pattern of abuse, Daley pointed the finger of blame in the same direction.

"It's up to the Chicago Police Department. The responsibility lies within them. Police departments have responsibility in professional standards. That's one thing we know. Any type of misconduct, abuse, anything whatsoever," Daley said.

"He's [Brzeczek is] trying to say that he had no responsibility as a
police chief. No other police chief had any responsibility whatsoever. That's erroneous."

The mayor recalled getting a letter from Brzeczek that "suggested but did not charge abuse" in the case of accused cop killer Andrew Wilson. At the time, Daley was state's attorney.

In the letter, Brzeczek passed along explosive information he had received from Dr. John Raba, medical director of Cermak (jail) Health Services.

Raba had examined Wilson and found multiple bruises, swelling and abrasions on his face and head. A battered right eye, and linear blisters on his thigh, cheek and chest "consistent with radiator burns." Raba also reported Wilson's claim that electric shock had been administered to his gums, lips and genitals.

"There must [be] a thorough investigation of this alleged brutality," Raba wrote.

'It should never have happened'

Brzeczek tossed the political hot potato to Daley, who referred it to his Special Prosecutions Unit for further investigation. Nothing ever came of the investigation.

"They did follow up. They did interview people. They did talk to people. [But] you need cooperating people," Daley said.

It wasn't until the early 1990s, when the Police Board finally got around to firing Burge, that -- as Daley put it -- the "extent and pattern" of abuse became fully known.

"A lot of facts are coming out now. This is 20 years later -- or more. A lot of facts are coming out completely different from then," he said.

On Friday, the mayor accepted his share of responsibility for what he called "this shameful episode in our history."

"Why not? I'll take responsibility for it. I'll apologize to anyone. Yes, I would. There's nothing wrong with that. It should never have happened. And [with] the procedures and policies we have [put] in place, it will never happen again," the mayor said, referring to videotaped interrogations in murder cases and other reforms.

"Everybody should be held accountable, I guess, when you look back. The system could have broken down."

But Daley categorically denied that he deliberately looked the other way to avoid jeopardizing either his political ambitions or the prosecution of an accused cop killer.

"Do you think I would sit by, let anyone say that police brutality takes place, I know about it, that I had knowledge about it, and I would allow it? Then you don't know my public career. You don't know what I stand for," Daley said.

"I'm an attorney. I'm proud of my public service as state senator, state's attorney and mayor of the city of Chicago. I would not allow anything like this. One incident is one too many."

Earlier this week, a long-awaited special prosecutor's report concluded that Burge and his Area 2 underlings tortured criminal suspects for two decades while police brass looked the other way. But the report concluded it's too late to prosecute because the statute of limitations has long since run out.

"We accept Mayor Daley's explanation but would not have done it the way he did," by passing the Brzeczek letter along to underlings, instead of taking control of the matter himself, special prosecutor Edward Egan told reporters Wednesday.

Although hindsight is 20-20, Brzeczek's letter should, in fairness, be viewed in the political context that existed at the time it was written.

Campaign and prosecution

Daley was a law-and-order state's attorney gearing up to run for mayor against his political archrival, incumbent Mayor Jane Byrne.

Brzeczek was Byrne's handpicked police superintendent dropping a political bombshell in Daley's lap -- not by phone, as state's attorneys and police chiefs would normally be expected to communicate on urgent matters, but by mail.

And regardless of their divergent views, neither Daley nor Brzeczek wanted to do anything to jeopardize the prosecution of Andrew and Jacky Wilson, who were accused of brutally murdering 2 Chicago Police officers, a "heater case" if there ever was one.

The animus between Daley and Brzeczek would only increase over the years.

Brzeczek ran an unsuccessful campaign against Daley in 1984. Daley subsequently prosecuted Brzeczek on charges of theft and misconduct as superintendent.

Brzeczek was acquitted of those charges. To this day, he views the prosecution as Daley's political revenge.

After being singled out for criticism by special prosecutors earlier this week, Brzeczek insisted he was being made a scapegoat in a venomous statement that reopened old political wounds.

"Does Daley ever wear the jacket for anything? No. I know the guy can't speak. But I did not know he could not read" the letter about Wilson's injuries, he said.

African-American leaders have predicted that Daley will pay a political price for failing to pursue torture allegations against Burge.

They called it a "potential bombshell" that could "turn into a lightning rod" in the black community if the mayor runs for re-election in February -- even moreso than the rigged hiring that led to the conviction of the mayor's patronage chief and 3 others.

On Friday, Daley acknowledged that the abuses don't "play well in any community" and that "there are those who will seek to play politics and draw inferences that aren't there" about his conduct as state's attorney.

"No matter how awful the crime, no suspect should be subject to the kinds of abuses detailed in this report. And no suspect should ever be coerced into confessing to crimes he did not commit," he said.

"It fundamentally undermines our system of justice and destroys public confidence. My emphasis is and will continue to be on making sure that we are doing everything possible to ensure that the horrendous abuses of 2 and 3 decades ago never happen again."

(source: Chicago Sun-Times)

[SoulTrainOz]

Burge report doesn't tell whole story

Yup, Jon Burge has skated once again. That's the bottom line of a
long-awaited report by special prosecutors released last week.

Their court-ordered mission was to examine 148 cases of police torture in which the alleged bad guys were all white Chicago cops and the alleged victims were all black suspects taken in for questioning. Though half the claims of torture were deemed credible by prosecutors, there will be no indictments, they announced, because of the statute of limitations.

It deserves remembering that in all the years that Burge was on the Chicago police force, from 1970 until 1993, not one cop, not a single, solitary police officer ever had the courage or the integrity to report what Burge and his band of brothers did to get confessions from black arrestees.

Electroshocks of testicles.

Suffocation with plastic bags.

Cattle prods.

Cigarette burns.

Amazingly, even black cops kept their eyes closed and their mouths shut. In all those years when gut-wrenching screams were heard coming out of interrogation rooms in Area 2 and Area 3 Police Headquarters, not one Cook County state's attorney summoned the strength to report what many of them knew too. That suspects didn't look too good after Burge and his boys got
done with them. And not one judge in 2 decades, not a single one, when told by a suspect in his courtroom of being beaten or tortured, ever lifted a finger to truly investigate.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Paul Biebel, head of the Criminal
Division, is the only public official who has ever tried to do something. In 2002, he ordered a team of special prosecutors to go after the truth. That was 4 years and more than $6 million ago. This past week we got the results.

And it's a shame. Because the report that Biebel was bold enough to order isn't, it turns out, worth the money, time or hope invested.

On Wednesday, former Circuit Court Judge Edward J. Egan and his deputy, Robert D. Boyle, the special state's attorneys appointed by Biebel, rolled out their findings. Though they said yes, there had been police torture in at least half of the 148 cases they examined, no one, including Burge, could be indicted. It was too late. The cases were too old.

Egan and Boyle are both former Cook County assistant state's attorneys who hired other former assistant state's attorneys to help them with their investigation.

While they were contemptuous of former Chicago Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek for failing to investigate the torture of cop killer Andrew Wilson in 1982, they were downright deferential to Mayor Daley, who was the state's attorney at the time and to the current State's Attorney thingy Devine, who was Daley's top deputy at the time.

While I'm not a big fan of Brzeczek's, at least he sent a letter to Daley back then telling him of suspected cop abuse.

Daley "can't remember" a lot and admits to "delegating" a lot.
Daley's deposition, by the way, is not part of the report and not included in an accompanying CD of documents. No depositions of any law enforcement figures are included. Only documents pertaining to suspects are attached.

Another odd feature of this report is that fully half of it is devoted to doubts prosecutors had about whether Death Row inmates pardoned by former Gov. George Ryan were in fact tortured. It is no secret that Ryan, a Republican, is despised by most prosecutors for emptying death row as he left office.

Why this report didn't instead focus on the 75 cases of torture it deemed credible is beyond me.

There is also no spreadsheet or compilation of data, case by case, even though Boyle bragged that they had acquired, for purposes of their investigation, sophisticated computer data collection technology that would be the "envy" of many a law firm.

And most dispiriting of all is the vocabulary prosecutors offered to
describe how the system failed. "A bit of slippage in the state's
attorney's office" are hardly the words I'd use to explain what happened. And "He ran the state's attorney's office by delegating duties," is a whole lot milder rendering of Daley's managerial failures than I would employ.

Though the special prosecutor's work is done, it has, sadly, not resolved a thing. In addition to the $6.2 million of tax dollars that have so far been paid out for the investigation, another $7 million and counting is being dumped into pockets of outside legal counsel hired by the City of Chicago to keep defending Burge and his band in civil lawsuits by former death row inmates.

Burge must be getting quite a kick out of all of this. I can just see him, cigarette in one hand, drink in another, aboard the boat he docks outside his Apollo Beach house in Florida, paid for with his ongoing police pension.

It must be giving him quite a chuckle.

(source: Chicago Tribune)

[SoulTrainOz]

`I would not allow anything like this'

Daley says he was not aware of cop torture

By Mickey Ciokajlo and Dan Mihalopoulos, Chicago Tribune

Mayor Richard Daley, speaking for the first time since a special prosecutor detailed a decade-long pattern of police torture, fired back at his critics Friday, saying he would never have allowed abuse to continue if he had been aware of it.

"Do you think I would sit by ... that I had knowledge about it, and I would allow it--then you don't know my public career," said Daley, who was Cook County state's attorney when former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge allegedly tortured suspects. "I would not allow anything like this. One incident is one too many."

Daley, who is up for re-election in February if he runs again, sought to move beyond the lingering questions about his role during the Burge years by issuing a forceful condemnation of the alleged brutality.

In the spirited back-and-forth with reporters that followed, Daley said he likely read a letter sent to him in 1982 about alleged abuse in one case but had no memory of doing so.

The topic did not appear to rattle Daley, who moved back and forth between accepting some responsibility for his role and deflecting blame onto others. He became the most animated when reporters asked how the public, especially African-Americans, would perceive his role in the allegations.

"It's not going to play well in any community," Daley said. "It's
unacceptable. Any type of physical abuse, brutality, anything. It's
unacceptable. In black and white, Hispanic or Asian. In any communities."

In a two-page statement he read before taking questions, Daley called the allegations a "shameful episode in our history" and said safeguards since put in place would prevent such abuses from happening again. He concluded it by saying some would "seek to play politics and draw inferences that aren't
there" regarding his role as state's attorney.

On Friday, the sole announced mayoral candidate in February's election sought to use the report as political ammunition against Daley.

Bill "Dock" Walls, a one-time aide to late Mayor Harold Washington, said investigators and special reports would not solve the problems of police brutality.

"We have to beat Daley at the ballot box," Walls said. "That is the only retribution that Daley fears."

About 35 activists disputed the report's findings at a lunch-hour protest Friday where they focused on Daley and current State's Atty. Richard Devine, who was Daley's top aide in the office in the 1980s.

`Shame on Daley'

"Shame on Daley, shame on Devine, always giving us the same old lies," the protesters chanted.

Julien Ball, an organizer against the death penalty, said it was appropriate that the protest was held in Daley Plaza, named after former Mayor Richard J. Daley. "It's his son, Mayor Daley, the mayor of Chicago, who covered up torture for years," Ball said. "What did Daley do about it? Absolutely nothing."

In his comments, Daley said he had followed procedure.

When reporters asked whether he felt any responsibility for the abuse, he responded, "Well, why not? I'll take responsibility for it. I'll say it. I'll apologize to anyone, yes I would. There's nothing wrong with that.

"It should never had happened--how's that? It should had never had happened. And [with] the procedures and policies we have [put] in place, [it] will never happen again."

Even as he said he would take responsibility, Daley also said the
responsibility ultimately belonged in the Police Department, which was not under his control at the time.

Daley said he "would think" that he had read a letter former Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek sent to him in 1982 seeking direction on how to deal with allegations that Burge and others had abused Andrew Wilson.

But Daley said he does not recall the controversial letter.

Daley said the letter was sent to his office's special prosecutions unit, which he said followed up, although he said some witnesses did not cooperate with investigators.

"A lot of facts are coming out now," Daley said. "This is only 20 years later, or more. A lot of facts are coming out completely different from then."

The four-year, $6.2 million investigation largely skirted Daley's role and instead blamed Brzeczek, who served under Mayor Jane Byrne, for failing to properly investigate the allegations about Burge and detectives under his command.

Brzeczek has said he did everything he could have based on the information he had at the time.

While Daley said it would be "erroneous" to say the police superintendent did not have responsibility, Daley avoided direct criticism of Brzeczek, who was his Republican opponent in the 1984 race for state's attorney.

"I'm not going to judge him," Daley said. "I'm not getting into
name-calling."

Edward Egan and Robert Boyle, the special prosecutors who released the report this week, determined that about half of the 148 cases of alleged torture they investigated were credible.

The prosecutors did not release transcripts of their interviews with Daley, who was state's attorney from 1980-89, although the report summarized what the mayor said. Daley said Friday that he would not object to the public release of a transcript of his interview.

In his prepared statement Friday, Daley said the city strongly supported the public release of the report because the public "deserves to know the full story."

The mayor emphasized new personnel policies and standards, such as videotaping interrogations, that he said should help prevent brutality in the future. He noted that police officers have a vital and stressful job to carry out, but he said they must do so while upholding the oath that they take to wear the badge.

Mayor condemns abuse

"It's this simple: You cannot enforce the law by breaking the law," Daley said. "No matter how awful the crime, no suspect should be subject to the kinds of abuses detailed in this report."

Also on Friday, an attorney representing former Death Row inmate Aaron Patterson called for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission to investigate Devine, saying there is evidence Devine was aware of torture allegations against Chicago police in the early 1980s, when he was Daley's first assistant.

Frank Avila said Devine admits in the report that in 1982 he became aware of a letter from Brzeczek about allegations of torture against Wilson, the murderer of two police officers.

Devine is named as a defendant in Patterson's lawsuit against the city, county and Burge.

Source : Chicago Tribune

www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0607220075jul22,1,1523381