Former Chicago mayor has Sept. 8 deposition in police torture suit

This article originally appeared in the Final Call Newspapers

By La Risa R. Lynch
Retired Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s luck seemingly has run out.

For years, attorneys’ for the former sixth term mayor has fought hard to keep Daley out of police torture lawsuits involving former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and his henchmen known as the “Midnight Crew.”

That luck may have ended when a federal judge allowed Daley to be added among a list of defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by police torture victim Michael Tillman.

Tillman spent nearly 24 years in prison for a July 1986 rape and murder, pharmacy a conviction Tillman alleges was based on a coerced confession beaten out of him by men under Burge’s command.

His conviction was vacated and the charges dismissed by a Cook County Special Prosecutor in February 2010. Daley is among 15 others named in Tillman’s suit.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer’s late July ruling paves the way for Daley to be sued and questioned

by Tillman’s attorneys. Daley will face questioning in a September 8^th deposition regarding his possible involvement in covering up complaints of torture under Burge command during 80s and 90s. Daley’s attorneys have appealed to the ruling.

Tillman’s attorney, vcialis 40mg Flint Taylor, of the People’s Law Office, called the ruling significant since this is the first time Daley has been named as a defendant, and the judge found “there are significant allegations that he was involved in a conspiracy to cover-up torture.”

Taylor said his office has been fighting to get Daley named as a defendant for years, but have been stymied by judges’ rejections to include Daley in complaints. The People’s Law Office has represented many Burge torture victims. However, Taylor commended Judge Pallmeyer’s courage, considering the influence Daley has in Chicago.

“We are in Chicago after all, and Daley — it is not a far stretch to say — has a tremendous amount of power,” Taylor said. “… So it’s difficult to have a judge uphold him as a defendant.”

Pallmeyer based her ruling on Daley’s actions as mayor not in his role as Cook County State’s Attorney, which has prosecutorial immunity. Daley’s complicity in police torture hinges on a report released in the early 1990s by the now defunct Office of Professional Standards (OPS), the Chicago Police Department’s disciplinary agency. The agency is now called the Independent Police Review Authority.

The Goldston Report found there was systematic police torture at Area 2 Police headquarters on the city’s south side, where Burge was a lieutenant and then commander. The report, Taylor said found that Burge and police command personnel, including a superintendent either participated in torture or covered it up.

Daley and the superintendent of police, Taylor explained, tried to suppress the report by discrediting when a federal court ordered it released.

“… [T]hat is one of the main actions he committed early on as mayor,” Taylor said, adding that the internal report was credible “… because the police department was actually condemning itself. That is why they decided to discredit it and cover it up rather than accept its findings.”

Incidents of police torture, he contends, would have been prevented if Daley acted in his capacity as mayor and as Cook County state’s attorney on this information. As Cook County state’s attorney, then police superintendent Richard Brzeczek sent a letter to Daley about claims of torture.

“Burge would not have gone on to torture all those dozens of other African-American suspects and send them to jail and death row,” Taylor said.

Attorney Standish Willis also lauded the ruling. Willis also represents several torture victims, including serving as co-counsel for Aaron Patterson, who was among several men exonerated from death row by former Illinois Gov. George Ryan.

Willis said Daley has often been evasive when pressed about his role in torture complaints.  Since he is under oath, Daley must be careful how he answers questions, said Willis, who started his law career at the People’s Law Office.

“…[W]hatever he says on oath at a deposition could get him into serious trouble if he lies,” he said. “That is what got Jon Burge into the court system. It wasn’t the torture itself… .”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was elected to the office after Daley retired, has signaled that the city is willing to settle the remaining torture lawsuits, a move that could spare Daley from being deposed. Emanuel also said the city will continue to pay Daley’s and Burge’s legal fees.

“That’s fine because we will keep suing him and they will have to keep settling cases. So to some extent, it gives some justice to our clients,” Willis said.

The city has spent $10 million to defend Burge and another $20 million in settlements. Taylor said evidence is clear these men have been torture and are innocent and these cases should be settled.

In June 2010, a jury convicted Burge on federal perjury and obstruction of justice charges for lying to federal prosecutors. Burge is serving a four and half year sentence in prison.

For one torture victim, the ruling does not go far enough. Mark Clements, whose coerced confession sent him to prison for 27 years for arson and murder in 1981, contends Daley should be indicted on criminal charges for conspiracy to cover-up torture allegations. He said it was known that Black men were tortured into making false confessions.

Clements noted that these men should at least be granted a hearing on their claim of torture. Not doing so, he added only perpetuates that the city has something to hide. Twenty one victims of police torture still languish in prison.

However, Clements wants one thing to come out of Daley’s deposition.

“An apology for his acts of covering up police torture,” he said. “Hopefully, he would acknowledge that he made some mistakes.”