Jon Burge. I'd never heard of him until this morning. On NPR:
A one-time Chicago police commander who officials say oversaw the torture of more than 100 black men goes on trial Monday.
The first allegations date back 40 years, but former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge has avoided prosecution until now.
Prosecutors say detectives under his command on the city's South Side tortured suspects until they confessed to crimes they may or may not have committed.
[snip]
For two decades, judges and juries didn't believe gang members with criminal records over decorated police officers. But the allegations were so widespread, they eventually led to a police investigation that found systematic torture in the South Side region where Burge was a commander. Burge was fired in 1993.
What is he being charged with? Two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of perjury. If convicted, he may face prison time in addition to losing his pension. Oh, and apparently NPR was underplaying the story a bit--it seems it was over 200 men, all told.
Here's the real irony. There's a statute of limitations on torture, so even though the special prosecutors assigned to the case found that torture happened, he cannot be prosecuted for that:
Public outcry eventually led Cook County to appoint two special prosecutors to look into the allegations. In 2006, after four years and several million dollars, prosecutors found that there was evidence to show beyond a reasonable doubt that torture had occurred, but the statute of limitations had expired.
Special Prosecutor Robert Boyle had to defend that finding.
"It isn't that nothing can be done because of us, because when we got this case, the nothing had already been done," Boyle says.
The Chicago Sun Times has an article that gives some details.
Four black officers who worked with Burge have given sworn statements about their memories of Area 2 at the time. They are also on the witness list for federal prosecutors in Burge's upcoming trial. One of them is Sam Lacey, a lawyer, who worked in Area 2 for about seven years until 1988. He said Burge had an "A team" whose detectives mostly worked on the midnight shift and that "something was not going right on the midnights."
His former partner, Doris Byrd, a retired sergeant, said she could hear screaming from interview rooms when the "A team" was working.
Burge is pleading not guilty. If convicted, he'll lose his pension. He might go to prison, although that's not certain. Given the charges, his age, and the fact that he's got prostate cancer, it's a sure bet he won't serve as long as the 20 inmates still awaiting hearings on their forced confessions.
I wonder what those men think about a statute of limitations that expired long before their sentences.