Chicago -
By The Weekend Desk B Team
Weekend Desk Editor Natasha Julius is quite possibly giving birth at this very moment. But don’t worry, we’ve still got things covered for us.
Storm Watch 2010!
This never would have happened when it was still the Sears Tower.
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Posted on June 19, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
Jon Burge’s crocodile tears are getting a lot of play.
Oh, perhaps they were genuine. Perhaps the significance of the moment got to him.
Doubtful, though.
“Burge has testified about the Wilson arrest at a hearing on Wilson’s motion to suppress his confession, in at least three depositions in 1988 and 1989, in two court appearances in Andrew Wilson’s civil suit (the case went to trial twice because the first ended in a mistrial), and before the Police Board, all without tears,” John Conroy reports.
Posted on June 18, 2010
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.)”
Posted on June 17, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
“Shadeed Mu’min said he was being questioned almost 25 years ago by Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge about an armed robbery when Burge pulled out a .44 Magnum revolver, unloaded all but one bullet and put the gun to the middle of Mu’min’s forehead,” the Tribune reports.
“Click. Click. Click. Three times Burge spun the cylinder and pulled the trigger, Mu’min testified Tuesday at Burge’s federal trial. Mu’min said he still refused to talk.
“Angry, Burge stepped from behind his desk and tried to put a typewriter cover over Mu’min’s face, he told jurors. Mu’min said he tried to stand up as Burge again covered his mouth and nose. Burge instructed another cop to hold Mu’min, he said. ‘It’s fun time,’ he quoted Burge as saying. ‘I became afraid I was going to die,’ Mu’min testified.”
Posted on June 16, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
After burying days of harrowing testimony from witnesses describing torture at the hands of Jon Burge, the Sun-Times suddenly found the ham-handed testimony of retired police sergeant and current Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office investigator (isn’t that interesting) Michael McDermott worthy of the front page today, perhaps because it had nothing else to go with. I guess they ran out of Blackhawks stories.
The appearance of McDermott on the stand Monday was a highlight of the trial insomuch as he used to work for Burge and was compelled by prosecutors to testify under a grant of immunity. On the other hand, his apparent dissembling only seemed to destroy his own credibility – which hardly helps Burge as McDermott clearly was trying to do.
Posted on June 15, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
“The highlight of the trial of retired Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge could come Monday, when a former detective who worked under Burge is expected to testify that he saw Burge coerce a confession from a robbery suspect by placing a plastic typewriter cover over his head to prevent him from breathing,” the Tribune reports.
“Michael McDermott was granted immunity from prosecution and ordered to testify for the government at Burge’s federal trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying in a 2003 civil suit about his use or knowledge of torture against criminal suspects.
“McDermott is expected to be one of the final witnesses for the government as it nears the end of its case.”
Posted on June 14, 2010
By Natasha Julius
It’s our special World Cup Edition as the eyes of the rest of the planet focus on South Africa.
Market Update
The value of a human soul plummeted this week as regulators chose to decouple it from strong currencies like Dignity and Truth and float it instead against the mighty greenback.
Posted on June 12, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
1. “We have something special for niggers.”
2. “The day before [Dr. John Raba] revealed that in the wake of his letter to Police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek urging an investigation into Wilson’s allegations of torture, he received a call from Cook County Board President George Dunne that suggested, in essence, that he needn’t involve himself in such matters,” John Conroy reports from the Jon Burge trial for Vocalo.
“Burge attorney Marc Martin worked up some sarcasm in getting Raba to admit that he’d never mentioned Dunne’s call before in all the times he’d testified. On re-direct by prosecutor Betsy Biffl he was asked why he’d never mentioned this intercession from one of the city’s most powerful politicians. ‘It was the first time anyone ever asked me,’ Raba said.”
Posted on June 11, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
“A former Chicago Police detective said Wednesday that decades ago he heard screams emanating from the old Area 2 headquarters shortly after the arrest of a man who later accused disgraced former Cmdr. Jon Burge of torturing him,” the Sun-Times reports in the biggest news story of the day.
(Our Blackhawks coverage is here.)
“The former detective also said he saw another one of Burge’s alleged victims covered in footprints while in police custody in the early 1980s . . . footprints stamped all over his ‘chest, stomach, leg and groin area.'”
Posted on June 10, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
“After examining the injuries to accused cop killer Andrew Wilson following his arrest in February 1982, the former medical director at Cook County Jail sent a letter to the Chicago police superintendent asking him to investigate allegations of police brutality,” the Tribune reports today on page 8.
“Dr. John Raba said he wrote Superintendent Richard Brzeczek that Wilson told him he had been beaten and electroshocked by Area Two detectives. The doctor said he noted the blistered burns on Wilson’s chest, face and right leg, the open wounds on his forehead, a split lip and gash to the back of his head that required stitches.”
Raba also broke new ground in revealing a conversation he had back then with George Dunne, the legendarily powerful president of the Cook County board.
Posted on June 9, 2010
