Appeals Court Upholds Burge Conviction For Lying About Torture
CHICAGO (AP) -- A federal appellate court has upheld the 2010 conviction of a former Chicago police commander for lying about the torture of suspects.
In a unanimous ruling on Monday, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says no errors were committed by the lower court and that Jon Burge got a fair trial. Burge is currently serving a 4 1/2 year sentence.
Burge's name has become synonymous with out-of-control police in Chicago.
Dozens of people -- almost all of them black men -- claimed for decades that Burge and his officers tortured them into confessing to crimes ranging from armed robbery to murder.
It was decades before anyone in power in Chicago believed the stories that activists say were common knowledge in the city's poorest neighborhoods.
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