Work of former Chicago lawyer to be examined

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that decades after police tortured 57 people, the victims have received payment from the city for the damage done. The police commander of the period, Jon Burge, was eventually fired and convicted of lying about the use of torture during later civil suits.

“Jon Burge’s actions are a disgrace to Chicago and to the hard-working men and women of the police department, but most importantly to those he was sworn to protect”, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement on Monday.

Mayor Emanuel says he has confidence in Patton, the head of Chicago’s law department following the resignation of a top city attorney who was accused of hiding evidence in a fatal police shooting lawsuit.

A lawyer or Pinex’s family says Marsh’s conduct speaks to a bigger issues within the city. U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang also dismissed a jury’s findings that the shooting of Darius Pinex in 2011 was justified, ordered a new trial and the city to pay attorney’s fees to the plaintiff.

Wilson was retried and reconvicted of the murders five years later, but filed a civil lawsuit against Burge for torture.

“The mayor recognizes that the Law Department is under scrutiny, just as the Police Department is under scrutiny”, Davis said.

Chang was not sympathetic, ruling that Marsh had “intentionally concealed” the recording. It also said it was reviewing its training and evidence-gathering procedures. But attorneys for people who have accused the police department of wrongdoing allege that the case shows the city plays a role in covering up for police misconduct.

The discipline was made public on the same day as the funeral of Bettie Jones, 55, a grandmother who was accidentally shot and killed by police in late December. The man, Quintonio LeGrier, was also killed. It said Jones was still alive after she was shot, but the officer who shot her did not check her condition.

Patton said his office will double down on its efforts to properly train lawyers to produce records.

Since November, Chicago has been dealing with fallout from the release of a video showing a white officer fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald.

Lawyers for the torture victims, Flint Taylor and Joey Mogul, said Chicago’s “holistic model” approach should be a model for other cities, but that the significant dollar amounts for settlements have not ended the “long reign of police abuse”.

Emanuel told reporters Rauner should “get the job done” on the budget.

It showed Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times as he walked away from police carrying a folded 3-inch knife.

More than 20 police departments have been investigated by federal authorities during the last 20 years, a venture that has often forced municipalities and police to move toward reforms.