No Class-Action Suit For Alleged Burge Torture Victims
CHICAGO (STMW) -- Imprisoned men who said they were tortured by former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his underlings cannot pursue a class-action lawsuit in the case, a judge ruled Wednesday.
But Chief Cook County Criminal Courts Judge Paul P. Biebel Jr. also said he came up with a "remedy" for the unfortunate chapter in Chicago history" by assigning David Yellen, the dean of Loyola Law School as a "special master" to identify legitimate claims of torture by incarcerated men.
Yellen will work for free and will identify legitimate cases for Biebel, and those men will get free legal counsel.
The motion for class certification Wednesday stemmed from a lawsuit that seeks evidentiary hearings for the men who said they were force to confess to their crimes.
Burge, fired from the Chicago Police department in 1993 after decades on the force, is currently serving a 4½–year federal prison sentence for lying about torturing and abusing suspects.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
