[Ppnews] Aldermen Seek Burge Indictments

[Political Prisoner News]

Burge suits could cost city $195 mil.




TORTURE LAWSUITS | 13 aldermen say case 'untenable,' want to settle

September 23, 2007
BY <mailto:apallasch at suntimes.com>ABDON M. 
PALLASCH Staff Reporter apallasch at suntimes.com
Chicago taxpayers could be on the hook for $96 
million to $195 million if the city insists on 
going to court to defend former Police Cmdr. Jon 
Burge in civil suits filed by men who say his 
officers tortured false confessions from them, 
according to a study by five men suing Burge.

The city was ready to settle with three of the 
men for $14.8 million, according to court filings in the case.

Instead, the city will pay more than that just to 
lawyers for Burge -- $16 million -- to prepare 
the case, interview witnesses, etc., says the 
study by Steven Whitman, the City of Chicago's 
former chief epidemiologist. That is on top of 
the $8 million the city already has paid Burge's lawyers.

All five men were freed from prison after their 
confessions were found to have been coerced. 
Burge was fired after the city accused him of 
allowing torture, but he still draws a city pension.

Whitman estimated jurors would award the men 
$500,000 to $2 million for each year each man was wrongfully imprisoned.

Even if the city were to win all five cases -- 
and Whitman estimated only a 3 percent chance of 
that -- the city would spend $16 million on Burge's lawyers, he said.

Asked about the study Saturday, Mayor Daley said: 
"Every lawyer wants more money. It's all about 
money. Sure you have to settle but you have to 
have a reasonable settlement. You would take $300 
million? That's why lawyers sue everybody."

Some aldermen have blasted the city Legal 
Department, urging it to settle and arguing the 
city can't win cases defending Burge after it 
fired him for running a torture department in the 1980s.

The Council's Finance Committee is to discuss the issue Wednesday.

Contributing: Art Golab



chicagotribune.com




Aldermen call for federal prosecution of Burge

By Monique Garcia
Tribune staff reporter
7:07 PM CDT, September 20, 2007

The abuse and torture scandal surrounding former 
Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge and those who 
worked under him has cast a shadow over the 
department that will only be lifted after their 
federal indictment and prosecution, a group of 
Chicago City Council members said Thursday.

Led by Ald. Ed Smith (28th), the group, including 
Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd), Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) 
and Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th), delivered a letter 
to U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald's office urging 
him to take action against Burge and other 
investigators accused of torturing suspects in 
their custody from the 1970s to the early 1990s.

"It's the right thing to do," Smith said. "If we 
allow this to stand still and don't move on it, 
then other police officers might feel it's OK to do this kind of thing."

The alderman said they would not be deterred by a 
report released last year by Cook County 
prosecutors concluding that, despite evidence of 
torture, Burge and Area 2 detectives who worked 
under him could not be prosecuted because the 
statute of limitations had expired.

"We must put an end to the nightmare that has 
been afflicting us for so long," Fioretti said.

Flint Taylor, an attorney with the People's Law 
Office, which represents several of the accusers, 
said Fitzgerald could prosecute the former police 
officers on several federal charges, including 
perjury, obstruction of justice and conspiracy.

Randall Samborn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, declined to comment.

<mailto:mcgarcia at tribune.com>mcgarcia at tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, <http://www.chicagotribune.com/>Chicago Tribune
-----------------------


5 aldermen urge feds to prosecute Burge, cronies




COPS | Fitzgerald asked to dig into torture allegations

September 21, 2007
BY <mailto:fspielman at suntimes.com>FRAN SPIELMAN 
City Hall Reporter <mailto:fspielman at suntimes.com>fspielman at suntimes.com
Five Chicago aldermen sent a letter to U.S. 
Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald on Thursday urging 
him to "investigate, indict and prosecute" former 
Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge for torturing African-American criminal suspects.
"We strongly believe that the federal prosecution 
of Burge and his police helpers is possible and 
that the statute of limitations is not a bar. 
Burge and all involved can be prosecuted for 
perjury, obstruction of justice and for ongoing 
conspiracy to cover up their torture scheme," 
wrote the aldermen -- Bob Fioretti, (2nd), Pat 
Dowell (3rd), Billy Ocasio (26th), Ed Smith, (28th) and Helen Shiller (46th).
Arguing that the Burge scandal "casts a long 
shadow" over the Chicago Police Department, the 
aldermen wrote, "It is appalling that none of the 
offending police officers have ever been 
criminally charged. On behalf of our 
constituents, we urge you to take all possible 
action to prosecute Jon Burge and his men for 
their actions in the aftermath of their torture 
of African-American men at Area 2 and Area 3 police headquarters."
Last year, a $7 million report by special 
prosecutors concluded that Burge and his 
underlings tortured criminal suspects for two 
decades while police brass looked the other way.
But the report concluded that it's too late to 
prosecute because the statute of limitations has long since run out.
Locke Bowman, the legal director of the MacArthur 
Justice Center at Northwestern University's 
School of Law who represents one of the torture 
victims, disclosed that he and attorney Flint 
Taylor have met with federal prosecutors "on more 
than one occasion" to discuss Burge and have 
"good reason to believe" that a federal investigation may be under way.


Alderman: Burge Is Not Above The Law

CHICAGO (WBBM)  -- A group of anti-brutality 
activists and Chicago aldermen say retired police 
lieutenant Jon Burge is not beyond the law.

WBBM's Bob Roberts reports.

The aldermen delivered a letter to U.S. Attorney 
Patrick Fitzgerald Thursday, asking him to investigate and press charges.

A special prosecutor determined that the statute 
of limitations precludes prosecution in Cook 
County Circuit Court of Burge and the police detectives who worked with him.

But Ald. Ed Smith (28), who led the group that 
delivered the letter to Fitzgerald, said other ways exist in federal court.

Activist attorney G. Flynt Taylor said cases 
citing them for perjury, obstruction of justice, 
conspiracy and racketeering would be easy to make.

"It's time to stop hiding behind the statute of 
limitations," Taylor said.  "There is no problem."

Taylor said that even if the five-year limit on 
perjury prosecutions were employed, statements 
made by Burge and detectives who worked under him 
more recently in federal court could be grist for 
indictments.  He said Fitzgerald has not been shy 
about prosecuting other high-profile cases.

The aldermen compare the Burge case to those of 
Klansmen brought to justice in recent years for 
murders committed during the 1950s and '60s.

The U.S. Attorney's office does not routinely 
comment on requests to prosecute or 
investigations that have not yielded charges.

Those who say they were framed by Burge, or 
forced to give false confessions, claim that he 
and his detectives used electric shock, cattle 
prods, near suffocation and mock executions to force prisoners to talk.

Burge retired under a cloud more than 10 years 
ago, but his Chicago Police pension remains 
intact and he has never been charged with a 
crime.  Burge has lived in the Tampa Bay area since shortly after he retired.

Contents of this site are Copyright 2007 by WBBM




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