Chicago Cop Convicted Of Perjury, 2 Others Acquitted
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Cook County judge on Wednesday cleared a Chicago Police sergeant and a former Glenview police officer on charges that they lied on the stand during a hearing involving a drug case at the Skokie courthouse.
But another defendant, 55-year-old Chicago Police Officer William Pruente, was convicted of perjury, official misconduct and obstruction of justice.
Pruente's testimony from a March 31, 2014 hearing connected to the arrest of Glenview resident Joseph Sperling was "material," Judge Matthew Coghlan said issuing his rulings in Pruente and Sgt. James Padar's bench trial.
It was Pruente who had handcuffed Sperling after a traffic stop in the northern suburb after receiving information from a confidential informant that Sperling had drugs, Coghlan said.
"He [Pruente] knew his testimony was false," the judge said.
Pruente, Padar, Chicago Police Officer Vince Morgan and James Horn, then a Glenview officer, testified that Sperling was handcuffed only after he retrieved his driver's license, they smelled marijuana in his car and they found drugs inside.
But video footage from a squad car at the scene contradicted that testimony, showing that Sperling was arrested before his car was searched, prosecutors said.
The video footage later prompted a Cook County judge to dismiss charges against Sperling.
Earlier, Pruente's attorney, Colleen Daly, argued that her client didn't intentionally lie in court. "Mistakes are made. . . . These mistakes should not be criminalized," she said.
Horn and Padar had limited interaction with Sperling at the traffic stop on June 6, 2013, Coghlan said.
Horn "basically just stood there" and Padar wasn't seen on the video until after the drugs were recovered, the judge said.
Horn, 53, was acquitted earlier Wednesday after his attorney Daniel Herbert asked for a directed verdict.
The follow-up report Horn wrote was inconsistent with the "intent to deceive," Coghlan said.
Horn was fired in September 2015, according to reports.
Morgan, 50, pleaded to a misdemeanor attempted obstruction of justice charge in September and was sentenced to a year of probation, court records show.
Morgan has since retired, according to Padar's attorney, Tom Needham. Pruente and Padar, now 42, were suspended without pay since their June 2015 arrests, Needham said.
Meanwhile, in September, Sperling was charged in a deadly hit-and-run crash in Morton Grove that claimed the life of 48-year-old Denise Cavada, according to reports.
Sperling, now 26, is awaiting trial in Skokie on charges of aggravated DUI, reckless homicide and failure to report an accident.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
