Attorneys for Burge police torture victims don’t trust Alvarez to be fair

Attorneys for Burge police torture victims don’t trust Alvarez to be fair

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Attorneys for Burge torture victims say Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has a conflict of interest when it comes to reviewing Burge cases.  

The attorneys filed a class action lawsuit seeking hearings for Burge victims to see if their claims of torture are credible in light of what we now know about the tactics of former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge.  

Attorney Flint Taylor said Alvarez is too close to the scandal to be objective even though most of the police torture took place decades ago.

“Well, you have to remember that there was a continuing cover-up and refusal to prosecute from the state’s attorney’s office during the entire tenure of Richard Devine, and during that entire tenure Anita Alvarez was an important figure in that office,” said Taylor.

Taylor said the court should do what they’ve done in previous Burge matters, appoint a special prosecutor to represent the state.

Paul Castiglione with the state’s attorney’s office said they’ll look at the allegations that the office has a conflict of interest and file a response with the court by mid-December.