A federal judge recently ruled that former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley can be sued for his role in a city-wide conspiracy concerning the use of police torture techniques by mostly white Chicago police officers against black defendants to coerce confessions of guilt from them. A September deposition has been scheduled of Daley by civil rights attorneys representing aggrieved torture victims and Mayor Emanuel is working to settle the outstanding claims against the City after ordering city-paid attorneys to provide Daley's defense for him. According to the Sun-Times, Chicago has already paid out a staggering $43 million to settle claims and pay the fees for outside attorneys. Ironically, the man at the center of the controversy, Jon Burge, is still drawing a city pension even after being convicted in the police torture case the federal government brought against him last year.
In the pending case of Michael Tillman, he spent 23 1/2 years locked up based on a tortured confession Commander Burge and his goons obtained from him. Burge's activities stem from the days when Daley served as Cook County State's Attorney when his office prosecuted many of the cases involving tortured confessions. Daley's attorneys are still maneuvering to overturn a federal judge's decision allowing him to be named as a defendant, arguing he has "absolute immunity" from prosecution as a former prosecutor. Federal prosecutors were unable to bring criminal charges against Burge and his fellow cops for many of the tortured confession cases because they took place beyond the statute of limitations. Burge's torture activities spanned more than two decades while he was working for the Chicago Police Department. Tillman's attorneys contend Daley knew of Burge's tortured confessions while serving as Cook County's top prosecutor and did nothing to stop it.
1 comment:
Daley scratched Emanuel's back during his campaign for mayor, and how it is Emanuel's turn to pay him back. Two scumbags!
I still remember when Daddy Daley while mayor, sicced Chicago police, en masse, in 1968, to attack the anti-war segment of the Democratic Party, who were demonstrating near the meeting of the Democratic Party Convention, that ended up with Humphrey as the candidate for prez. My mother and sister smelled the tear gas even inside that hall.
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