http://www.truthinjustice.org/burge.htmJudge appoints special prosecutor in police torture probe By Mike Robinson
Associated Press Writer
April 24, 2002
A judge appointed a special prosecutor today to investigate allegations that criminal suspects were tortured by a Chicago police homicide commander and the detectives under him.
Judge Paul Biebel found that State’s Attorney Richard Devine had the appearance of a conflict of interest and would not seem objective if he investigated the charges. snip
Defense attorneys have been charging for more than a decade that former Lt. Jon Burge, the one-time commander of a violent crimes unit that covered the far south end of the city, and the detectives under him tortured suspects until they confessed by placing a typewriter cover over their heads, dunking them in water and giving them electric shocks.
The Police Department fired Burge in 1993 after an internal investigation found one instance of improper conduct.
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This cop was torturing people until they signed statements confessing to death penalty cases here in Illinois. Afterwards they would be tried and sent to death row. The death row here in Illinois was emptied out a few years ago after the Republican governor ordered an investigation and found that 13 out of 25 men on death row at that time were innocent. Lt. Jon Burge is currently enjoying his retirement playing golf in Florida.
Don