Judge In Laquan McDonald Case Presses City On ‘Transparency’
Judge In Laquan McDonald Case Presses City On ‘Transparency’
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration is asking a judge to order secrecy for more than 240,000 city emails in the murder case against Jason Van Dyke, the police officer who fatally shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
The emails came from the police department and the Independent Police Review Authority, the city agency that probes shootings by cops. The city’s Inspector General’s Office provided the emails to Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan as part of evidence discovery. Gaughan turned them over to prosecutors and Van Dyke’s attorney.
At a hearing Thursday, Assistant Corporation Counsel Lisette Mojica told Gaughan some of the material is protected by attorney-client privilege. And Mojica gave him a nine-page city motion that claims “the vast majority of the emails and attachments … are not relevant” to the shooting and include unredacted personal information and “work-product protected materials.”
But Gaughan pointed to a June 3 statement from Emanuel that pledges more transparency. Gaughan then grilled Mojica about whether the motion violated that pledge.
Here is an unedited recording of that portion of the hearing:
And here is the city motion for secrecy:
Cpd Ipra Motion 12082016 by Chicago Public Media on Scribd
Chip Mitchell reports out of WBEZ’s West Side studio. Follow him @ChipMitchell1.