Jon Burge can live at his seaside home in Apollo Beach, Fla. until his November sentencing without electronic monitoring, a judge ruled this morning.
Prosecutors asked that the former Chicago police commander be placed under electronic monitoring with home confinement following his conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice charges Monday.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow ruled that an additional bond would be sufficient, so Burge’s older brother, Jeff Burge, posted his own Chicago home worth between $200,000 and $300,000 as collateral. Jeff Burge said he understood that he could lose his home, which is located in Jefferson Park, if his brother violates the conditions of his release. Jon Burge lived with his brother during the trial.
Sentencing is scheduled for November 5. Burge, 62, faces up to 45 years in prison.
Burge’s own Florida home is also tied up in the case. After his 2008 indictment, Burge posted the house, worth more than $200,000, as bond.
Burge, who is ill with cancer, is required to check in with the court in Florida twice a week by phone and once a month in person. He surrendered his passport and weapons, said his attorney, Marc Martin.
Martin said today he feels sorry for Chicago because the verdict “opened up a Pandora’s box” for lawsuits.
Burge was found guilty of lying under oath in a 2003 civil court case about the torture of African American police suspects in the 1970’s and ’80’s. Flint Taylor, an attorney for many of Burge’s accusers, said that more than 20 alleged victims of police torture with ties to Burge’s command remain incarcerated in Illinois.