Well. This ought to be ... interestingly brief, let's say.
Retired detectives named in a decades-old Chicago Police torture scandal have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury -- a clear sign a criminal investigation into former Cmdr. Jon Burge and others is ramping up, sources said today. Five to 10 detectives received subpoenas last week to appear June 19 before the grand jury. The probe is headed by Sergio Acosta, civil rights coordinator in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, the sources said. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment, but pointed to a statement U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald made last September announcing his office is engaged in a criminal investigation into the matter.
In January, the city approved a nearly $20 million settlement with four former Death Row inmates who claimed Burge and more than 20 officers who worked with him in the 1970s and 1980s coerced murder confessions from them. A special Cook County prosecutor investigated the torture claims, but in a controversial final report found Burge and other detectives could not face criminal charges in state court because the statute of limitations expired.
Federal investigators stepped in. They are focused on sworn statements Burge and other detectives made in 2003. If they can show those statements are false, authorities could charge the retired officers with obstruction of justice, sources said. The federal statute of limitations does not expire until November — five years after the sworn statements were made, the sources said.
Burge denied any torture took place in written answers to questions submitted to him in 2003 in a lawsuit filed by one of the Death Row inmates, Madison Hobley. Hobley is the subject of a separate federal investigation into a fatal 1987 fire that led to his conviction in state court. He spent 16 years on Death Row for the crime, but was pardoned in 2003 by then-Gov. George Ryan because of the torture allegations.
Retired Chicago Police Detective William Pedersen, one of the defendants in a torture lawsuit brought by former Death Row inmate Aaron Patterson, said he was not one of the officers who received a federal subpoena last week. But he heard that other retired detectives were subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury. “When is this going to end?” said Pedersen, who denies he tortured Patterson.
As usual, Burge politely answered a reporter’s call today, but would not comment beyond a few pleasantries. “Carol, number one, you know I can’t talk to you and I’ve told you that 28 times before. So no comment,” he said. Asked how he was doing, Burge joked, “I never had a bad day in my life, though I’ve been know to fib occasionally.” [...]
Retired Chicago cops being called by federal grand jury -- chicagotribune.com
By Angela Rozas and Jeff Coen | Tribune reporters
11:30 PM CDT, June 10, 2008
A group of retired Chicago police officers has been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury later this month, the latest step in an ongoing federal investigation into a three-decade-old torture scandal focused on former Cmdr. Jon Burge. Sources said about 10 officers have been subpoenaed, and an attorney representing three of them said that the officers are expected to appear before the grand jury June 26.
Last September, U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald said that his office was conducting a criminal investigation into officers' actions regarding alleged torture of criminal suspects from the 1970s to the early 1990s. While he didn't name Burge or the officers, Fitzgerald said at the time that his office would look into whether any of the officers lied under oath or obstructed justice as part of the civil litigation resulting from allegations that police tortured dozens of suspects. A special prosecutors' report paid for by Cook County and released in 2006 concluded that dozens of suspects had been tortured but that no one could be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had run out.
Attorney Joseph Roddy said Tuesday he has been contacted through the police officers' union to represent three retired officers who have been subpoenaed by the federal grand jury, but that he may eventually be representing more.
Burge denied any torture took place while answering written questions in 2003 as part of the lawsuit filed by one of the alleged victims, Madison Hobley, according to Hobley's attorney. IIf federal prosecutors conclude that Burge lied in his 2003 answers, that could fall within the statute of limitations, which expires in November.
In January, the city approved a $20 million settlement with four alleged torture victims, including Hobley.
Well. So nice to hear that Burge finds the entire thing so amusing.
Given that the officers are going to be interviewed about conduct they either participated in, covered up, or at the least declined to report, I don't see how you get much of anything besides a parade of people taking the Fifth Amendment. After all, if Burge is still indictable through November, so are they.
It's going to be interesting to see if this gets anywhere. At the very least, if it goes to trial, it has the potential to be severely embarrassing to Hizonner da Mayor Daley, who was Cook County States Attorney during the period covered by the investigation. At the least, he had to know there was something squiffy about many of the cases he was being asked to prosecute. Surely he must have wondered occasionally about the parade of battered, bruised and burned defendants he was seeing coming out of the city. (Or perhaps not; Hizonner has never appeared to be particularly inquisitive or even aware. If he were, the repeated corruption scandals that break out of lower levels of city administration every year, like the annual return of the plague, might be a bit less frequent.)
Frankly, I really don't expect this to go anywhere. Most of the officers will likely decline to provide evidence against themselves or Burge, unless given some sort of immunity. If that happens, you're going to have the exceedingly distasteful and difficult spectacle of people saying, "Yeah, I tortured that guy/helped torture that guy/knew about Burge torturing that guy, but as bad as that was, Burge was so much worse than me, you're not going to believe it." And they won't, but it'll be the only chance of getting someone to pay for what was done, other than the city's liability insurance policies.
Posted by iain at June 11, 2008 11:23 AM
