Authors: Steve Bogira
35
Seven Austin officers:
“7 Chicago cops indicted in shakedowns,”
Chicago Tribune
, Dec. 21, 1996. All seven were convicted. They received prison sentences ranging from 5 years to 115 years. “Austin cops sent to prison,”
Chicago Tribune
, Oct. 19, 2001.
36
“That even”:
Gutknecht testimony to the U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Narcotics of the Committee on the Judiciary, hearing in Chicago on “Illicit Narcotic Traffic,” Nov. 21, 1955, p. 4295.
SEVEN · A REAL LAWYER
1
Before the public defender’s office was created:
William Scott Stewart, “A Criticism of the Public Defender System,”
The John Marshall Law Quarterly
(June 1936), pp. 257–58.
2
Officials troubled:
Charles Mishkin, “The Public Defender,”
Chicago Bar Association Record
(February–March 1931), p. 98;
Report of the Judicial Advisory Council of the State of Illinois and the Judicial Advisory Council of Cook County
, 1931, pp. 25–28; Newman F. Baker, “The Public Defender’s Work in Cook County,”
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
(1935), pp. 5–9.
3
How cases had been flowing; “using”:
Philip J. Finnegan, “The Public Defender System in Cook County, Illinois,”
United States Law Review
(1934), pp. 479–86.
4
“A virtue”:
Stewart, “A Criticism of the Public Defender System,” p. 258.
5
In 80 percent of the cases:
2004 estimate for the author by supervisors in the office of the Cook County Public Defender.
6
In the late nineteenth century: Harris v. Illinois
, 128 Ill. 585 (1889);
Morgan v. Illinois
, 136 Ill. 161 (1891).
7
Reviewing courts and lawmakers:
In
Patton v. U.S.
, 281 U.S. 276 (1930), the U.S. Supreme Court sanctioned bench trials in federal criminal cases. The
Patton
opinion lists the numerous cases upholding bench trials in state courts. By the mid-1930s, the bench trial option had been adopted “almost universally” in state courts. Albert W. Alschuler, “Plea Bargaining and Its History,”
Columbia Law Review
(January 1979), p. 33. One of the early proponents of bench trials, journalist and lawyer Raymond Moley, saw them as an alternative to plea bargaining. But if bench trials reduced plea bargaining at all, they did so only briefly; by 1940, plea bargaining rates were as high or higher than they’d been in the 1920s. Ibid., p. 33.
8
Bench trials were approved: People ex rel. Swanson, State’s Attorney, v. Fisher
, 340 Ill. 250 (1930).
9
“Rules of law”:
Sir William Holdsworth,
A History of English Law
(Methuen & Co., 1922), 3rd edition, vol. 1, p. 349.
10
Outnumbered jury trials:
The 1961 and 1985 ratios are my calculations from “Annual Report of the Illinois Courts,” Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, for those years. The 2003 ratio is an estimate from criminal court presiding judge Paul Biebel.
11
The defendant was charged:
From Locallo’s written opinion, May 10, 1989, in
People v. Bentley
, 88 MC
I
36900801.
12
During a bench trial:
“Trial hears testimony from speechless victim,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, Oct. 19, 1995.
13
26th Street Crew:
The elder DeSantis, also named Richard, was arrested in 1992 and charged with syndicate gambling. Police said DeSantis and another man
were taking bets on pro football games on cell phones in their cars, and that records in the cars indicated the men had handled $500,000 to $1 million in bets. Police said at the time that they suspected both men were members of the 26th Street Crew. “Two allegedly took $500,000 in bets,”
Chicago Tribune
, Dec. 28, 1992. DeSantis later pled guilty to syndicated gambling, a felony, and was placed on probation and fined $1,000. Case file in
People v. DeSantis
, 93CR 503701.
14
Prosecutors aren’t worried:
“Mob ties to Clark witness,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, July 2, 1998.
EIGHT · CHARLIE CHAN
1
Cutler had been a year ahead:
The background on Cutler and my account of his slaying is based on interviews with his mother, Mary Kalinsky; with “Linda”; and with Chicago police spokesperson Sergeant Edward Alonzo.
2
Detectives told reporters:
“Cops don’t see link to Clark case in shooting death of witness,”
Chicago Tribune
, May 18,1998.
3
Case law directs: People v. Ward
, 208 Ill. App. 3d 1073 (1991).
4
“Miracle at 26th Street”:
“Man defends himself in murder trial, wins,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, July 16, 1994.
5
A year later: People v. Hudson
, 95 CR 33003.
6
A dollar-eighty a page:
In 1998; in 2002 the rate rose to $3.15.
NINE · PERSEVERATION
1
One forced changes: Palmer, et al., v. City of Chicago, et al.
, 82 C 2349.
2
The other: Jones v. City of Chicago, et al.
, 83 C 2430.
3
“A frightening”: Jones v. City of Chicago, et al.
, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 856 F. 2d 985 (1988).
4
Show-ups are generally considered:
Gary L. Wells, et al., “Eyewitness Identification Procedures: Recommendations for Lineups and Photospreads,”
Law & Human Behavior
(1998), pp. 630–31.
5
“Equivocal”:
7th Circuit (1988), p. 995.
6
“Full of falsehoods”:
Ibid., p. 990.
7
“Student”:
Bonita Brodt,
Chicago Tribune
, May 18, 1981.
8
Brady v. Maryland: 373 U.S. 83.
9
Preparing witnesses:
Gershman, “Symposium: Effective Screening for Truth-Telling: Is It Possible? Witness Coaching by Prosecutors,”
Cardozo Law Review
, (February 2002), p. 829.
10
“That’s my sister’s”; “still hysterical”:
“Witness, 11, hysterical at murder trial,”
Chicago Tribune
, April 8, 1982.
11
The state is accountable:
“The suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process … irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.”
Brady v. Maryland
, 373 U.S. 83, at 87.
12
“Deliberate misconduct”; “firm belief”:
“Murder mistrial—police tactics come under scrutiny,”
Chicago Tribune
, April 18, 1982.
13
It prompted:
Testimony of William Kunkle, chief deputy state’s attorney, Jan. 3, 1983,
Palmer v. Chicago
, 82 C 2349.
14
Also compelled: Palmer v. Chicago
, 562 F. Supp. 1067, 1081 (1983).
15
Prosecutors are generally immune: Imbler v. Pachtman
, 424 U.S. 409 (1976).
16
The jurors fumed:
Rob Warden, “George Jones Gets Even,”
Chicago Lawyer
, April 1987.
17
Laverty got a disciplinary investigation:
“Cop faces discipline for court testimony,”
Chicago Tribune
, May 7, 1982.
TEN · FREELY AND VOLUNTARILY
1
Three disciplinary complaints:
Two of the charges were ultimately dismissed. The third became part of a complaint that eventually resulted in Washington’s suspension from law practice for six months.
People v. Orange
, 168 Ill. 2d 138 (1995).
2
Orange’s disciplinary record:
Orange had committed only a “few minor” disciplinary violations in his fourteen years in prison, according to IDOC spokesperson Dede Short.
3
Identified fifty criminal suspects:
“Special Project Conclusion Report,” Office of Professional Standards, Chicago Police Department, Sept. 28, 1990.
4
Military policeman:
Conroy,
Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People
, pp. 61–62.
5
The
Vigilante: John Carpenter, “Former cop accused of torture lies low in Florida,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, Aug. 20, 2000.
6
Andrew Wilson sued Burge: Wilson v. City of Chicago
, 86 C 2360; Conroy,
Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People
, pp. 68–72.
7
Deep Badge:
Interview with Wilson’s attorney Flint Taylor.
8
One letter:
Conroy,
Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People
, pp. 158–59.
9
Melvin Jones:
Wilson’s lawyers had alleged that nine days before their client was abused, Burge had “electroshocked Melvin Jones on the genitals and thigh with a device in a wooden box and threatened him with a gun while he was handcuffed to a ring in the wall in an Area 2 interview room in an attempt to coerce a confession from him.” In a May 15, 1995, response, the city admitted the statement’s truth.
Wilson v. City of Chicago
, 86 C 2360.
10
Gettleman assessed:
Conroy,
Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People
, p. 235.
11
Widespread; “poor and uninfluential”; “in some”: Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement
, National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (1931), pp. 4, 159.
12
“Electric monkey”:
Ibid., p. 139.
13
“It had”:
Ernest J. Hopkins,
Our Lawless Police: A Study of the Unlawful Enforcement of the Law
(Viking Press, 1931), p. 220.
14
“Thoroughly at home”; “Chicago telephone book”; “goldfish room”: Report
, pp. 125–26.
15
“Here’s the best”:
Ibid., p. 131. One police commisioner told the Wickersham Commission: “A policeman should be as free as a fireman to protect his community. Nobody ever thinks of hedging a fireman about with a lot of laws that favor the fire.” Ibid., p. 179.
16
“Tried the thumbscrews”:
Ibid., p. 181.
17
Psychological ploys:
Richard A. Leo, “From coercion to deception: the changing nature of police interrogation in America,”
Crime, Law and Social Change
(1992), p. 35.
18
Involuntarily given: Miranda v. Arizona
, 384 U.S. 436 (1966).
19
If a defendant; “freely and voluntarily”; “general judicial tolerance”: Our Lawless Police
, pp. 283–84.
20
“Cops Protest”; “We are”: Chicago Herald-Examiner
, date unspecified, quoted in
People v. Rogers
, 303 Ill. 578, 588 (1922).
21
“At the expense”; high court directed:
Ibid., 590.
22
Andrew Wilson: People v. Wilson
, 116 Ill. 2d 29 (1987).
23
Gregory Banks: People v. Banks
, 192 Ill. App. 3d 986 (1989).
24
The city paid him: Banks v. City of Chicago
, 91 C 6470 (U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois).
25
Chicago police lie:
Myron Orfield, “Deterrence, Perjury, and the Heater Factor: An Exclusionary Rule in the Chicago Criminal Courts,”
University of Colorado Law Review
(1992), p. 75.
26
Boyd v. United States: 116 U.S. 616.
ELEVEN · FATHER AND SON
1
“Highly unlikely”:
“Minister pushes for meeting with Clark, alleged attackers,”
Chicago Defender
, July 7, 1997.
2
Bruno Roti:
“Re: Bruno Roti,” Chicago Crime Commission (CCC) memo, March 11, 1954.
3
Democratic club; murders and bombings:
CCC memo.