The prosecution in the trial of former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge this afternoon rested its case and the defense plans to begin calling witnesses Wednesday morning.
Since May 26, the jury has heard men testify they were beaten, suffocated or shocked during the 1970s and 1980s at Area 2 police headquarters to force confessions.
The final government witness to allege police torture at trial was Shadeed Mu’min, who testified today.
Mu’min, now bald with a white beard, said that in 1985 Burge held a revolver to head and also suffocated him with a typewriter cover during questioning about an armed robbery and attempted murder.
He said an unidentified associate of Burge’s held him down during the third time Burge put the typewriter cover to his face and that a black man who appeared to be a detective saw everything and laughed.
Mu’min testified that he said he would “sign anything” in order to get Burge to stop.
Defense attorney Richard Beuke pounced on details of Mu’min’s testimony asking if the glasses Mu’min wore during that time period were damaged.
Beuke asked sarcastically if Burge said, “Oh, Shadeed, can you please take your glasses off, so I can put this bag over your head and choke you out three times?”
During cross-examination, Mu’min also was questioned about who he called to ask for help getting his impounded car back.
Mu’min said he asked Burge for help even after the alleged abuse.
Beuke also grilled him about whether he knew other men who also claimed torture while locked up together at Cook County Jail’s Division 1. Mu’min said he did not remember the names. Suggesting there was a concerted effort to concoct up police torture claims has been a theme for the defense throughout the trial.
An upcoming witness for the defense is Dean Bastones, who was an assistant state’s attorney during the questioning of Gregory Banks.
Banks testified previously during the trial that two officers under Burge beat him and that one cut off his air supply with a plastic bag to force him to confess to a homicide.
He said he initially refused to give a statement to an assistant state’s attorney but eventually agreed to give a statement after he was threatened by an officer. He was granted a new trial after seven years in prison and the case was dismissed.
Kathleen Warnick, an assistant state’s attorney who was at Area 2 while Andrew Wilson was in custody also plans to testify. Wilson, who died in 2007, testified under oath before his death that he was electroshocked and burned by a radiator before he confessed to the killings of two Chicago cops.
A doctor, Michael Baden, plans to testify about burn marks, and a jailhouse witness, Ricky Shaw, plans to testify about alleged plans to make complaints of fabricated abuse by police officers.
Burge faces charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. The statute of limitations ran out on any assault charges relating to allegations of police torture of suspects in the 1970’s and ’80’s.
The defense expects to rest its case Monday.