An important witness in the trial of former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge seemed unhappy to be answering questions Monday about what he described as a scuffle between Burge and a man inside Burge’s office about 25 years ago.
Retired Chicago Police Sgt. Michael McDermott answered a court order to testify in the case. He was granted immunity.
McDermott is currently suspended from his job as an investigator with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and said he expects to lose his job because of his involvement in the case.
He faced questioning this morning by Assistant U.S. Attorney April Perry and defense attorney Richard Beuke.
McDermott worked from 1981 until 1999 at Area Two on the South Side. Burge was one of McDermott’s lieutenants.
McDermott testified that sometime in the 1980′s he observed Burge and a man he later found out was a suspect named Shadeed Mu’min inside Burge’s office. He said he saw Burge’s gun pointed toward the area where Mu’min was. Perry asked if he saw Burge hold the gun against Mu’min’s head.
“I never said that,” McDermott said. “That’s an absolute lie.”
McDermott said he witnessed an exchange between Burge and Mu’min that appeared confrontational and at one point he saw Burge put something in front of the suspect’s face. Perry asked if Burge held it over Mu’min’s head.
“He did not put something over his head,” McDermott said.
In cross-examination, Beuke tried to establish that McDermott was under pressure to say he remembered details of the incident.
Before testifying to the grand jury, McDermott said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told him that if he held anything back, he would not just be charged with perjury, he would also be charged with obstruction of justice.
McDermott also testified that an attorney with the Fraternal Order of Police advised him that if he told prosecutors he could not remember details of what happened, he would likely be indicted for obstruction.