Chicago Cop To Ask For Change Of Venue In Laquan McDonald Murder Trial
Updated 01/29/15 - 11 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The attorney for the Chicago police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald said he will ask the judge for a change of venue once prosecutors have turned over all the evidence in the case.
Officer Jason Van Dyke made a brief court appearance Friday morning before Judge Vincent Gaughan, who met privately with prosecutors and defense attorneys before setting the next court date for March 23.
Prosecutors also turned over evidence from the Independent Police Review Authority to Van Dyke's attorneys.
After the hearing, defense attorney Dan Herbert said that is just a small part of the evidence that will be turned over during the next several weeks and months. Once all the evidence has been turned over, Herbert said he plans to file several motions in the case, including a request for a change of venue.
Herbert contended the jury pool in Cook County has been tainted, in large part because of repeated comments Mayor Rahm Emanuel has made disparaging Van Dyke.
"We're going to present some very compelling evidence to demonstrate that it's impossible for my client to get a fair trial in this case," Herbert said. "The comments that the mayor alone has made; it's been dozens and dozens of comments where he's essentially indicted my client. He's characterized his actions as being heinous without even seeing the videotape."
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Herbert said it would be "extremely difficult" to find any jurors in the Chicago who don't already think Van Dyke is guilty given Emanuel's public comments on the case.
McDonald's family also fears there won't be a fair trial, claiming the entire Cook County justice system should be investigated by the U.S. Justice Department. They want federal prosecutors to sit in whenever Van Dyke is in court to make sure there is a fair trial.
Herbert also told reporters Van Dyke and his family have received death threats since he was charged with first-degree murder for shooting McDonald 16 times.
"My client is doing okay, but to be honest he is having a very difficult time," Herbert said. "Essentially, every time he leaves his house, he is fearful. His life will never be the same again."
Van Dyke was mobbed by when he arrived at the courthouse, as protesters shouted "16 shots and a cover-up!"
That tense situation was followed by a scrum at the revolving doors to the courthouse, as several people were pushed around while Van Dyke, his friends, family, and attorneys went inside.
Herbert said Van Dyke is not receiving any formal protection, but he said police are aware of the threats, and are taking precautions.
In December, Van Dyke pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of official misconduct. He was charged in late November, just hours before the city released dashboard camera video showing him shooting McDonald 16 times, with most of the shots being fired after McDonald had fallen to the ground.
Police initially said McDonald lunged at officers with a knife, but the video shows the teen was walking away from Van Dyke when the officer opened fire, and did not lunge at him.
Herbert has said Van Dyke feared for his life and the lives of his fellow officers, and the video of the shooting doesn't tell the whole story.
According to DNAInfo Chicago, the dashboard camera in the squad car assigned to Van Dyke and his partner had to be repaired twice in the months before the McDonald shooting. According to the report, dashcam wiring was repaired four months before the shooting, about three months after it was reported broken. A day later, the same camera system was reported broken again, and it took until October 2014 to fix what technicians deemed "intentional damage."
On the night of the McDonald shooting, the squad car Van Dyke was using did not record any audio, and a later review of videos downloaded from the camera determined he and his partner repeatedly failed to synchronize the microphones.
Herbert denied his client had anything to do with any tampering.
"If this audio was tampered with, then it was tampered with by somebody other than Jason Van Dyke," he said.
Herbert noted squad cars are not assigned to just one team of officers, and that different officers share vehicles over the course of separate shifts. He also maintained audio recordings would have helped his client, so it wouldn't make sense for Van Dyke to tamper with the camera.
"We would want audio, because audio is going to demonstrate the numerous commands that were given by dozens of police officers over an 18-minute period of time, telling this individual [McDonald] to drop the knife. So to suggest that my client tampered with audio as some outlets have done is completely irresponsible," Herbert said.
The Van Dyke case has become a political flashpoint for Chicago, in particular for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez. Emanuel fought for more than a year to keep video of the McDonald shooting out of the public eye, and Alvarez took more than a year to charge Van Dyke. Both have faced repeated demands from protesters that they resign, but both have said they will not step down.
