Justice A Long Time Coming In Trial Against Sadistic Cop John Burge
STILL WAITING
Justice A Long Time Coming In Trial Against Sadistic Cop John Burge
THIRTY YEARS AFTER TORTURE CHARGES FIRST EMERGED AGAINST HIM, PROSECUTORS WILL FINALLY TRY TO WIPE THE SMILE OFF JOHN BURGE'S FACE.
The former Chicago Police Lt. goes on trial this week in federal court, accused of lying under oath about torturing black suspects in his custody. Jury selection began Monday and resumes today.
Burge was fired from the Chicago force in 1993 after Amnesty International and Chicago activists pressured officials to respond to overwhelming evidence that Burge beat, shocked, suffocated, played Russian roulette and coerced confessions from black men in his custody.
Burge's brutality was documented in a 1994 investigation by producers Peter Kuttner, Cyndi Moran and Eric Scholl.
"Borge said 'It's fun time,"' convicted cop killer Andrew Wilson is quoted saying on the tape.
"He took out the black box out of the bag. He put one wire on one ear and one wire on the other ear and so he started cranking....He kept on doing it over and over and over. It hurt. And it stays in your head. And it grinds your teeth."
Wilson maintained that Burge tortured him until he confessed to being involvedin the killing of two Chicago police.
As many as 110 men accused Burge of torture. Now decades later federal prosecutors will try to convict Burge, who livesin Florida collecting a full police pension.
"There really can't be any full justice until the torturers are all in jail, and the torture victims are released and given fair trials," David Flint, an attorney who's represented Burge's victims over the last 20 years, told the Associated Press.
"Burge goes into court smiling and cocky. He’s been doing this stuff for 20 years and he keeps getting away with it,'' former public defender Dale Coventry on the documentary. "Because nobody holds him accountable." Maybe that's about to change.
