By Steve Rhodes
If Jon Burge indeed takes the stand, it will be quite remarkable for reasons far beyond the bored nature of your daily news reports.
John Conroy explains why:
“Burge has not answered all questions thrown at him under oath since he tried to refute cop-killer Andrew Wilson’s charges of torture in hearings before the Police Board, hearings that resulted in his dismissal from the force in 1993. Since then he has not tried to defend himself, taking the Fifth Amendment repeatedly when he has been called to testify under oath. In a September 1, 2004 deposition he invoked his right not to incriminate himself more than 400 times, even in response to seemingly innocuous questions aimed at determining his relationship with the Fraternal Order of Police, his height and weight when he served at Area 2, his ownership of a boat, and the boat’s name. (The boat’s name may not have been so innocuous. According to the attorneys who were questioning him at the time, the vessel was named Vigilante.)”
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True, we shouldn’t believe it until we see it, but Burge telling a federal judge he would take the stand made it all the way to page 11 in the Tribune and page 16 in the Sun-Times.
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Conroy also explains why the case may turn on the actions of a Florida notary and how the testimony of Shadeed Mu’min actually aligned perfectly with that of former Sgt. Michael McDermott.
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Celebrity medical examiner Michael Baden testified for the defense on Wednesday.
“Several jurors gasped and began whispering to one another when Baden – the former chief medical examiner for New York City who once had a television show on HBO – revealed that he expected to be paid $27,000 for his work for the defense,” the Tribune reports.
Michael Baden, please go away now.
Judge Grudge
“A prominent local judge is suing WFLD-TV, the Fox station in Chicago, for $7 million for its May 24 broadcast that implicated him in an undercover investigation of judges who regularly punch out early,” Kristen McQueary reports.
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“The story focused on Cook County judges that it contended often head home after lunch. Despite their $170,000 salaries and cushy pensions, some rarely put in an eight-hour day,” McQueary writes.
“This isn’t news to anyone familiar with Cook County courthouses. They’re ghost towns in the afternoon. The court call in many courtrooms is light and completed well before mid-afternoon.”
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The original report appears to have been taken down but here’s a copy of the text.
And here’s a follow-up :
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Cultural Bias
99.8 Percent of Americans Have Not Yet Ordered the New iPhone:
“According to . . . Census Bureau figures, an American is slightly more likely to die of a heart attack this year than to have ordered an iPhone 4 on the first day it was available,” Tom Scocca writes. “Also 960,000 Americans attend at least one tractor pull, truck pull, or mud race each month.”
I wonder how many journalists have ordered iPhone 4s, though – and how many attend tractor pulls and mud races.
Tool Shed
You have to wonder if reporters at the dailies pay attention to their ostensible colleagues elsewhere such as John Conroy and Ben Joravsky. All indications are that they do not.
Beer Pong
Chicagoist discusses the best places in Chicago to drink beer.
If Lou And Ozzie Switched Teams
A Chicago thought experiment.
Slacker P.I.
Episode 3: Bo and Wyatt are concerned that their friend, Marvin, has fallen too deep into the hipster movement.
Drew’s Apocalypse
Growing up in the shadow of the Zion nuclear plant does strange things to you.
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Candy Apple Red Over Sunburst
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Go nuclear.
Posted on June 17, 2010