After
a four-year inquiry, special prosecutors investigating long-standing
allegations that Chicago police tortured murder suspects said
Thursday that they are prepared to release a final report.
Special
prosecutors Edward Egan and Robert Boyle said they also want to
make public the names of all police officers they subpoenaed in
their investigation, as well as excerpts from grand jury testimony.
"We
want it all to go public," Boyle said Thursday.
The
prosecutors' request to file a report suggests that they will
not be seeking criminal indictments in the case, which involves
allegations dating from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Egan, however,
said Thursday that he "can't say that."
The
prosecutors are set to appear Tuesday before Cook County Presiding
Criminal Courts Judge Paul Biebel. They're seeking Biebel's approval
to release the report because some parts of their work were done
under seal.
Egan
and Boyle were appointed in 2002 to investigate claims that detectives
working under former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge routinely
used torture--including electric shock, Russian roulette, beatings
and attempted suffocation with typewriter covers--to force confessions
from suspects.
The
Chicago Police Board fired Burge in 1993 for torturing a murder
suspect.
The
investigation faced hurdles from the beginning, including statute-of-limitations
issues and the apparent need to persuade officers to testify against
their colleagues.
Egan,
Boyle and their staff began their investigation with 64 alleged
victims. They continued to receive new cases throughout--even
this year--and altogether investigated three times that number,
Egan said.
Plaintiffs'
attorney Flint Taylor, who has investigated the torture charges
for more than a decade, said Thursday that he would be "extremely
disappointed if there are not indictments of Burge and other officers."
Community
groups, including the Chicago Council of Lawyers, had petitioned
to get the special prosecutors appointed. Locke Bowman, a lawyer
for the groups, said Thursday he would withhold judgment until
Tuesday.
"This
is obviously long-awaited and it is long overdue," Bowman said.
"We're very eager to see what is disclosed."
Attorney
James Sotos, who represents Burge in a civil case stemming from
the alleged torture, declined to comment. So did Richard Sikes,
an attorney for Daniel McWeeny, a former detective who is now
an investigator for the Cook County state's attorney's office.
McWeeny
and two other officers were granted immunity from prosecution
in exchange for their testimony, prosecutors said in December.
But lawyers for McWeeny and another officer said publicly that
their clients were not cooperating with prosecutors, and it was
unclear how much the prosecution had benefited.
In
court papers filed Thursday, Egan and Boyle said that during the
investigation at least one legal issue went as high as the Illinois
Supreme Court.
The
prosecutors are seeking permission to make their court filings
public. They also want to make public the names of all police
officers and assistant state's attorneys whom they have subpoenaed,
as well as the steps they have taken to enforce the subpoenas.
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© 2006, Chicago
Tribune