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Mayor Daley Must Give Testimony On Police Torture

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Feb 23, 2007 8:57 am US/Central

Mayor Daley Must Give Testimony On Police Torture

Daley's Attorneys: Mayor Has Nothing Unique, New To Report

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CHICAGO (AP) ― A federal judge ruled that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley will have to give testimony under oath about police torture that allegedly took place while he was Cook County state's attorney in the 1980s.

The allegations stem from the case of pardoned death row inmate Madison Hobley. Hobley has claimed he was tortured into confessing murder by police under the leadership of former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge. Hobley was arrested in 1987 while Daley was Cook County state's attorney.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown made the six-page ruling Thursday.

In the opinion, she wrote that the facts in Hobley's case "support a conclusion that Mr. Daley may have information about the activities of Burge and other police officers, about who in the city and police administration knew about those activities, and about whether any action was taken on the basis of such knowledge."

The date of the deposition has not been determined.

Attorneys for Daley contend that the mayor doesn't have any additional knowledge that couldn't be obtained from other sources.

"Our position has been that the mayor has no unique or new information about the case," said Jennifer Hoyle, spokeswoman for the city's law department.

City officials said they may appeal the judge's ruling.

The deposition of Daley is rare. Hoyle said that many plaintiffs who have sued the city ask to depose the mayor, but it has only happened one or two times.

Burge was fired in 1993 after a police department investigation found a suspect was mistreated in his custody. Burge has not been charged and his lawyer has said Burge never tortured anyone.

Special prosecutors released a report in July that said Burge led a group of officers that used beatings, electric shocks and other methods to get suspects to confess. The prosecutors said Burge and the others could not be charged because the statute of limitations had run out.

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