The Chicago Torture Cop GUILTY!

The Chicago Torture Cop GUILTY!

by WaTcHeR » 28 Jun 2010, Mon 8:18 pm

Former Chicago police officer 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. 

Gamboney said he will seek probation for Burge, who is 62 and is said to be ailing from cancer. "I think he has a lot of mitigation on his side, " he said. 


"These sorts of things that happened in 1982, 1985, being punished 25, 28 years later, that's not a full measure of justice," Fitzgerald told reporters. "On the other hand, the sense that finally there's a verdict ... that a jury found beyond a reasonable doubt, all 12 of them, that this happened should be some measure of justice to recognize and reckon with history that we need to have it on the record that this happened." 

"Convicting a police officer is a difficult decision," she said, adding that the jurors reached that verdict fairly quickly. "It took us two days so there were no major disagreements. We all wanted to make sure we were clear on the testimony that was given and we were making the right decision based on what we heard in the courtroom." 

The verdict marks the culmination of nearly four decades of controversy surrounding Burge, a 33-year department veteran, and the detectives under his command. 

The government's case focused on five men who alleged torture and abuse, but dozens of suspects contended they were beaten, shocked, burned, threatened with guns or smothered with plastic bags to force them to falsely confess to some of the city's most shocking murders. 

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. 

The allegations -- particularly those of Madison Hobley, who alleged Burge and his detectives tortured him and then lied in court to obtain his conviction for the murders of his wife, son and five others in a 1985 arson -- were one of the key reasons then-Gov. George Ryan gave when he pardoned Hobley and four others and emptied death row. 

But Burge was never charged criminally with the tortures themselves. A four-year investigation by a specially appointed Cook County state's attorney concluded in 2006 that there was evidence that Burge committed torture but that the statute of limitations had expired, making it impossible to charge him. 

Local and international civil rights groups savaged the report as a whitewash, saying it was just another example of how prosecutors and police turned a blind eye to Burge's misconduct. 

Alleged victims found hope for some measure of justice in 2008 when U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced the indictment of Burge on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for submitting written answers to a lawsuit filed against him by Hobley in which he flatly denied that he ever used -- or knew about the use -- of torture against suspects. 

Over the past month, the government built its case on transcripts of testimony from the now-deceased Wilson as well as four others -- Anthony Holmes, Melvin Jones, Gregory Banks and Shadeed Mu'min -- who alleged they were abused. 


http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010 ... d-day.html

"Cops that lie, need to die!" A police officer that lies to get an arrest or send someone to prison should be shot.

"In the U.S., a cop with a gun can commit the most heinous crime and be given the benefit of the doubt."

"The U.S. Government does not have rights, it has privileges delegated to it by the people."

WaTcHeR

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Re: The Chicago Torture Cop GUILTY!

by WaTcHeR » 15 Jan 2011, Sat 8:40 pm

Jon Burge, a former Chicago police commander convicted of lying about the torture of suspects, contends he deserves a lighter prison sentence because of his military service.

Burge's attorneys argue in a filing that his tours of duty in Korea and Vietnam should earn him a break. The attorneys say Burge received the Bronze Star and other commendations while in the Army.

Burge was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice based on his answers to questions during a lawsuit over claims that he and his officers tortured murder suspects.

Burge's attorneys contend he should get a break below the 15- to 21-month sentencing range recommended by the probation department. Prosecutors say he could get up to 30 years in prison.

http://archive.chicagobreakingnews.com/ ... rvice.html

"Cops that lie, need to die!" A police officer that lies to get an arrest or send someone to prison should be shot.

"In the U.S., a cop with a gun can commit the most heinous crime and be given the benefit of the doubt."

"The U.S. Government does not have rights, it has privileges delegated to it by the people."

WaTcHeR

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Posts: 8268

Joined: 04 Mar 2007, Sun 1:25 pm

Location: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

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Re: The Chicago Torture Cop GUILTY!

by WaTcHeR » 02 Feb 2011, Wed 9:04 pm

Ex-cop faces 30 years over torture of suspects 




CHICAGO — As a decorated Chicago police lieutenant, Jon Burge prided himself on sending bad guys to prison by getting them to confess to terrible crimes — and by committing terrible crimes himself in the process, prosecutors say.

Now, having been convicted in June of lying about the violent means he and his men used to get confessions, it is Burge's turn to face prison time.

Two men testifying Thursday as Burge's sentencing hearing opened accused Burge of torturing them into confessing to crimes decades ago. They said they still have nightmares about the abuse.

Melvin Jones and Anthony Holmes said they're haunted by memories of being suffocated and electrically shocked by Burge and his men, and then not believed for years.

And both men said their lives and families were changed forever by the abuse and their wrongful convictions.

Holmes said he's glad Burge was convicted. Unlike the innocent men who were tortured, Burge actually committed the crimes he was charged with, Holmes said.

Prosecutors say his Burge's perjury and obstruction of justice convictions add up to 30-plus years in federal prison. 

Defense attorneys are arguing for less than two years for the 63-year-old former commander whose name has become synonymous with police brutality in the nation's third-largest city.

Both sides are calling witnesses, and U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow will decide whether to also allow testimony from outside groups with an interest in a case that's been nearly 40 years in the making. The hearing is expected to last two days.

Dozens of suspects — almost all of them black men — claimed for decades that Burge and his officers tortured them into confessing to crimes ranging from armed robbery to murder.

"Cops that lie, need to die!" A police officer that lies to get an arrest or send someone to prison should be shot.

"In the U.S., a cop with a gun can commit the most heinous crime and be given the benefit of the doubt."

"The U.S. Government does not have rights, it has privileges delegated to it by the people."