In a case closely watched in Chicago, former CPD Commander Jon Burge has been found guily of perjury and obstruction of justice related to torturing persons in police custody, but not of the assaults themselves.
Former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge, the subject of accusations of torture against suspects for decades, was convicted today on all counts of an indictment charging him with perjury and obstruction of justice.
Burge was convicted of lying in a 2003 civil lawsuit about his use or knowledge of torture of criminal suspects.
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The verdict marks the culmination of nearly four decades of controversy surrounding Burge, a 33-year department veteran, and the detectives under his command.
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Burge was eventually fired in 1993 for allegedly shocking and burning Andrew Wilson during his 1982 interrogation for the murders of two Chicago police officers a few days earlier.
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This case has been particularly closely watched, as Burge would never be actually charged and tried for the practices that were, well, widely suspected to have occured and to be provable. In 2006, an investigation by an independent counsel found no cause to charge...due to the running of the statute of limitations. This raised issues as to the diligence of states attorneys back for decades, including now-Mayor Richard Daley.
Instead, US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald charged Burge with perjury for testimony in a civil case denying the torture.