October 21, 2008

BY NATASHA KORECKI (Chicago Suntimes)

TAMPA, Fla. - Former Police Cmdr. Jon Burge - who has cast a long shadow over the Chicago Police Department because of accusations he tortured suspects for two decades - was arrested this morning on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

It was long believed Burge could not be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations. But the FBI arrested Burge, 60, at his retirement home near Tampa for allegedly lying about whether he and other officers under his command tortured suspects dating back to the 1980s.

The charges are based on written answers Burge gave in a civil lawsuit against him in 2003, 10 years after he was fired from the department. Burge insisted he never observed nor used any torture techniques - including cattle prods, bags over suspects’ heads and a “black box” that administered electric shocks.

“I have never used any techniques set forth above as a means of improper coercion of suspects while in detention or during interrogation,” Burge wrote.

Federal prosecutors say Burge was lying. “He provided false written answers to questions,” the U.S. attorney’s office said. “Burge lied and impeded court proceedings.”

Burge is charged with two counts of obstruction of justic and one count of perjury in an indictment handed down by a grand jury last Thursday and unsealed today. He faces up to 20 years in prison on each obstruction count and five years on the perjury count.

“No person is above the law, and nobody - even a suspected murderer - is beneath its protection,” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said.

Flint Taylor, an attorney who has represented some of Burge’s alleged victims, said he was “extremely pleased and gratified that, so many years later, a U.S. attorney has made the move to indict the leader of the police torture ring. I presume some of his henchman will be charged too.”

Burge was fired from the department in 1993 after the Chicago Police Board found he tortured accused police killer Andrew Wilson into giving a confession. But Burge was never charged with a crime at the time, and he moved to Florida soon after his dismissal.

The former Area 2 detective has continued receiving a city pension and taxpayer-paid legal representation.

Last year, the city spent nearly $20 million settling four cases lodged by men who were freed from Death Row after saying they were tortured into giving false confessions by or under Burge. The former commander was subpoenaed to give depositions in those lawsuits.

In 2006, a $7 million report by special Cook County prosecutors found that Burge, a former Vietnam veteran, and his underlings tortured criminal suspects for two decades while police brass allegedly looked the other way.

The authors of the report concluded no charges could be filed because time had run out under the statute of limitations.

Late last year, five Chicago aldermen sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald calling on him to “investigate, indict and prosecute” Burge for torturing suspects.

In 2003, former Gov. George Ryan pardoned four men after deeming they were tortured into giving confessions by Burge or under Burge’s command. One of those men, Aaron Patterson, is back in prison. There is a pending federal criminal investigation against a second man, Madison Hobley.