"Ex-officer gets 4 1/2 years in Chicago police-torture case" by Karen Hawkins, Associated Press / January 22, 2011
CHICAGO — A decorated former Chicago police officer whose name has become synonymous with police brutality in the city was sentenced yesterday to 4 1/2 years in federal prison for lying about the torture of suspects.
Too bad he wasn't a fed; then they would have absolved him.
See: The End of American Justice
VCR Ate CIA Videotapes
Dozens of suspects — almost all of them black men — have claimed for decades that Jon Burge and his officers electrically shocked, suffocated, and beat them into confessing to crimes ranging from armed robbery to murder. After the hearing, several victims and their supporters said the sentence wasn’t nearly stiff enough.
“It’s outrageous,’’ said Mark Clements, who claims Burge’s officers tortured him into giving a false confession in 1981 when he was 16. Tears ran down his face, and his voice rose in anger. “It’s not justice.’’
Standing nearby, community activist Fred Hampton Jr. echoed the outrage, saying the white officer’s sentence was disproportionately low compared to what others receive for lesser crimes.
“People in our community get more time than this for fistfights,’’ Hampton said.
They have a point; police always seem to get off easier than most.
Flint Taylor, an attorney who has represented several police-torture victims, predicted the sentence would become an issue the Chicago mayor’s race. A host of candidates, including former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, are vying to replace retiring Mayor Richard Daley.
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“The new mayor will have to apologize to these victims of torture,’’ Taylor said.
That would be a good start.
But others were satisfied with the verdict, including US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whose office prosecuted Burge.
“Justice delayed isn’t justice completely denied,’’ he said.
????
And he's allegedly one of their best?
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Related: Blago Beats Crack Government Prosecutor
FLASHBACK:
"Ex-Chicago police official arrested in torture cases" by Mike Robinson, Associated Press | October 22, 2008
CHICAGO - A former high-ranking Chicago police official was arrested yesterday on charges that he lied when he denied that he and detectives under his command tortured murder suspects, federal officials said.
SUSPECTS, right?
The arrest capped a long-running controversy over allegations that beatings, electric shocks, and death threats were used against suspects at Burge's Area 2 violent crimes headquarters.
The indictment said Burge lied in his response to the civil rights lawsuit when he said he and other detectives hadn't tortured anyone. That lawsuit, filed by Madison Hobley, alleged that Burge and other detectives tortured him, including covering his head with a typewriter cover until he couldn't breathe in 1987.
Hobley was arrested on suspicion of setting a fire that killed seven people, including his wife and son. Hobley said he never confessed and that a confession introduced at his trial was fabricated by homicide detectives.
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Related: Stench of Torture in Windy City
Chicago Cops Have an Image Problem
Yeah, I would say so.
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Nothing to be proud of, Boston.
2 children, mother shot to death in Chicago suburb
Chicago erasing a tower of despair
As 100th anniversary of deadly fire marked, 2 killed battling Chicago blaze
What else is going on in-state?
"Illinois poised for big hike in income tax rate; Measure passes in Legislature’s final hours" by Deanna Bellandi, Associated Press / January 13, 2011
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Pat Quinn, the Illinois governor, defended a massive increase in state income taxes passed by lawmakers yesterday and promised to quickly sign the measure to help heal the state’s ailing finances.
Lawmakers worked long hours to pass the increase to raise the personal income tax rate from 3 percent to 5 percent for four years — a 66 percent increase. Corporate income taxes will also rise, but Quinn rejected the notion that it would decimate businesses.
The rate increase might be the biggest any state has adopted in percentage terms while grappling with recent economic woes. Nevertheless, Illinois’ tax rate would remain lower than in several other states in the region.
“It’s important for their state government not to be a fiscal basket case,’’ Quinn told reporters outside his Capitol office.
Legislative leaders rushed early yesterday to pass the politically risky plan before a new General Assembly was sworn in at noon, taking a slice out of the Democratic majority and removing lame-duck lawmakers willing to support the tax before leaving office....
The tax increase will be coupled with strict 2 percent limits on spending growth. If officials spend above those limits, the tax increase will automatically be canceled. The plan’s supporters warned that rising pension and health care costs probably will eat up all the spending allowed by the caps, forcing cuts in other areas of government.
Other pieces of the budget plan failed.
Lawmakers rejected a $1-a-pack increase in cigarette taxes, which would have provided money for schools. They also blocked a plan to borrow $8.7 billion to pay off overdue bills, which means long-suffering businesses and social-service agencies won’t get their money any time soon....
Republicans predict the tax eventually will be made permanent.
Take it from someone who knows, they always are!
“It’s a cruel hoax to play on citizens to say this is temporary,’’ said House Minority Leader Tom Cross, Republican of Oswego.
It's worse than that; it is thievery.
Republicans also accused Democrats of doing irreparable harm to Illinois families and businesses.
Business leaders decried the proposal as a job-killer....
Governors of some neighboring states quickly jumped on the issue. The Republican governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, who took office last week, has already proposed a tax cut for businesses that relocate to Wisconsin from other states, invited companies to head north....
Also see: A cool view of heated rivalry
I'm sure that is getting much more media attention than the income tax hike.
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Jail escapee is captured in Illinois
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Illinois ex-governor inmate visited sick wife
Blagojevich’s new trial delayed
