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Alleged Torture Victims: City Hasn't Paid Up

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Feb 20, 2007 9:50 am US/Central

Alleged Torture Victims: City Hasn't Paid Up

City: Settlement Was Never Reached

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CHICAGO (AP) ― Three men who were pardoned from death row for murder allege the city of Chicago hasn't honored a $14.8 million settlement on claims of police torture.

Attorneys for Madison Hobley, Leroy Orange and Stanley Howard claimed a settlement was approved with the "highest levels" of city government on Nov. 3, 2006, in a motion filed electronically Monday.

But Jennifer Hoyle, a spokeswoman for the city Law Department, said no such settlement was reached.

"All of our discussions . . . were confidential, but we did not reach an agreement," she said.

The alleged settlement comes from claims that former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge and officers working under him tortured the men into confessing to murder.

Then-Gov. George Ryan pardoned four men, including the three seeking the settlement, in January 2003 when he also commuted the sentence of every death row prisoner before leaving office.

The three men then filed federal suits against the city. They consolidated their three separate cases for settlement purposes, according to the motion.

The men want a court order that would require the city to sign the settlement and pay $14.8 million. According to the filing, the plaintiffs seek punitive damages against the city for its "egregious bad faith."

"The motion speaks for itself in terms of the city's conduct at the highest levels of government," said Orange's attorney G. Flint Taylor. "The remainder of the shocking details concerning this city's misconduct will be coming out in the next few days in further documents."

In the filing Taylor wrote that if the city is not forced to honor the settlement, he and the other plaintiffs' attorneys will ask for a default judgment against the city and plan to file amended suits naming Mayor Richard Daley and former Mayor Jane Byrne as defendants.

Burge, who was once the Area 2 commander, was fired after a police department investigation found a suspect was mistreated in his custody. Burge has not been charged and his attorney has said Burge never tortured anyone.

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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