Ex Chicago Cop Gets 4 and 1/2 Years in Torture Case

[Stuart G]

Source: AP and Yahoo News.

CHICAGO – A decorated former Chicago police officer whose name has become synonymous with police brutality in the city was sentenced Friday to 4 1/2 years in federal prison for lying about the torture of suspects.

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.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow said the sentence reflected the seriousness of the allegations and, in making her decision, she wondered why a respected officer so admired by his department would resort to such violence


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110121/ap_on_re_us/us_police_torture_trial

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While it isn't the 30 that most of us wanted, it isn't the 2 that his defense requested..
In my opinion, the asshole should never see the light of the sun again,

[The Magistrate]

1. Only A Patch On What He Deserves, Sir

But good even so.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. It's a start

A few years ago, and even today in many jurisdictions, Burge would have been exonerated.

Maybe in the near future, crooked cops will receive their appropriate due.

Full Disclosure: Three close relatives in law enforcement. They won't have any of this, either.

--d!

[kas125]

3. That slime deserves to be locked up forever, but I'm glad

he at least got some time in prison.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

4. Life...taking with one hand, giving with the other

Stunned by Keith Olbermann's announcement, I come to DU to see what people are saying and am greeted by this bit of news that had slipped right by me.

A little sunshine on a cloudy day.

[chill_wind]

5. Oh, he's going to be extra special popular among his inmates

I bet.

[AngryAmish]

10. Oh, a rape joke. Those always brighten my day.

[chill_wind]

13. Not. I was thinking about his very odds of long-term survival, given his profile.

But feel free to limit your thinking about his 24 hour a day scenario-- and your immediate assumptions about my remark.

[Tuvok Obama]

6. But the black men who were tortured "into confessing to crimes ranging from armed robbery to murder"

... must have been sentenced to longer prison terms than that ...

... for crimes they didn't commit ...?
:mad: ... :grr: ... :nuke:

[Solly Mack]

7. K&R

and how many years for the actual torture?

[Stuart G]

9. This sentence was suppose to be about lieing about torture.

He was not tried for the torture, but the judge mentioned it in her sentencing comment.
They didn't get him on the torture, but lieing about it in a law suit that was filed years after the torture took place.

[Solly Mack]

11. I know. I've been keeping up with the story.

I just want something that isn't going to be....sadly.

[lonestarnot]

8. Perfect example of in the back yard! Should never get out IMO.

[socialshockwave]

12. Take him out back

and be done with it. Seriously - scum like this are the reason police forces have lost respect of people.

[fascisthunter]

14. good luck bully

probably a republican too

[udbcrzy2]

15. 4-1/2 years - I wonder how long he will actually serve of that?

With it being under 5-years, makes me wonder if he will be in a minimum security prison away from the dangerous criminals. I think he should have received a heavier sentence and housed among the people committed for aggravated murder, that seems to be the kind of person he is.

[lunasun]

16. Check out the history of this scumbag he deserves life! A Chicago blight for decades

[ThomCat]

17. WTF? TORTURE people, to get false confessions from Innocent people?

And he only gets 4 1/2 years? :grr:

You can spend that much time in prison for shop lifting or getting caught with a joint! And this is the best she could do for years of torturing people to get false confessions? For years of abusing the justice system and ruining people's lives?

:wtf:

Where is the justice in this? Where is the proportionality in this, the sentence being proportionate to the crime?

Does ANYONE really believe that this sentence could be in any way an accurate benchmark for how Judge Lefkow hands out all her sentences for everyone else?

[HardWorkingDem]

18. Here's probably what went on....

Recall, he was tried for things like obstruction of justice - whether it is right or not, the statute of limitations ended on the more serious offenses.

Also, there were probably sentencing guidelines the judge followed and if they were not followed, most likely a successful appeal would result and supposedly that is one thing judges hate to see happen to themselves.

Not saying I agree with the 4 1/2 yrs, but that there were issues that probably limited the amount of prison time.

[ThomCat]

19. My understanding: No Statute of Limitations on Torture.

Unless I have been hearing wrong about that repeatedly, then he should been sentenced for every time he tortured someone. None of the cases of torture expired.

If offered pleas down to mere intimidation, then, yes, I guess those do expire. But why the hell would anyone give a plea down to something that immediately makes the case moot because the charge now couldn't be tried? That would be the same as dropping charges. That would make no sense.

It seems like they aggregated all the cases together and then gave a sentence as if there had been only once case instead of many cases. But if that's true, what was the benefit of aggregating the cases to begin with? Yes, it saved the DA time in prosecuting multiple cases? But there ends up being no justice at all for the vast bulk of the cases just to create some convenience for the DA and the court?

People routinely go to jail for more time than this for petty crimes. Especially if they are poor and a minority.

If this guy got reduced time because all his many cases of torture got condensed together and sentenced as one case, and treated as merely obstruction of justice, then it really shows there there really are built in structural biases in the so called Justice System. He got one hell of a bargain that would never be available to a hell of a lot of other people who are in jail for far longer for doing far less. People who never hurt anyone, never did lifelong damage to other people's lives, and never did anything that put innocent people in prison.

Any way you look at it, the fact that he is going to do less time that a hell of a lot of people convicted of non-violent crimes, including a lot of petty non-violent crimes, is truly fucked up!

[HardWorkingDem]

20. The reason I mentioned it was because...

if I'm not mistaken, somewhere I had read that the statute of limitations had run out on the most serious charges and the reason why he was indicted and charged was because he lied in civil depositions.

Again, not saying I agree with it, only pointing out the issues.

Though at Wikipedia it says he faced up to 40 years for his convictions (but again, the 4.5 years may have been due to sentencing guidelines, but then again, one would think this is such a serious offense that aggravating factors should have pushed that beyond 4.5).