Delayed justice in cases of law officer misconduct hurts victims and taxpayers

What lesson has the city and county learned from spending gobs of taxpayer money defending former Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his so-called midnight crew in police torture cases?

It appears the lesson is that it would be a good idea to spend more gobs of money in other cases involving allegations of illegal behavior by law officers. Instead, city and county officials should look for a way to bring these cases to resolutions that save taxpayers money and better serve the cause of justice.

The legal cost to the city, county and state of Burge-related police torture cases is nearing $180 million. Moreover, in recent years, the city has spent as much money on outside law firms to defend mostly police misconduct cases as it did on its entire in-house law department, according to ABC7 News. Besides delaying justice for innocent people, that’s a burden on taxpayers.

Now, the city is also paying to defend cases associated with disgraced former Police Sgt. Ronald Watts, who shook down victims and planted drugs and guns on them. The city’s own agency, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, recommended firing three officers who worked with Watts for corruption, including lying about specific arrests. More Watts-related cops may face disciplinary recommendations. It puts the city in the position of possibly spending many more millions to defend officers for whom COPA has recommended discipline.

The Watts cases have been going on for seven years, and the cost for outside law firms to defend Watts-related cases is closing in on $9 million. There is an outside law firm defending the city of Chicago, an outside law firm defending Watts and three outside law firms for members of Watts’ team. The legal costs will mushroom if many of these cases go to trial in the next one to three years, something Chicago’s next mayor will have to deal with if nothing is done.

The city also is paying to defend cases involving now-retired Chicago Police Det. Reynaldo Guevara, who is accused of coercing false confessions and manufacturing evidence in more than 30 cases in the 1990s. The costs to settle, investigate and defend claims involving Guevara reportedly have drained at least $75 million out of taxpayer wallets, and there are more cases to go.

There ought to be a way to reconcile some of these cases more quickly, which would save taxpayers money and make it easier for plaintiffs to get on with their lives. Often, the cases have been settled only right before trial, after millions have been spent on taxpayer-funded legal fees.

Last week, the legal dockets got even more complicated as two former prosecutors were indicted for misconduct in the prosecution of now-exonerated Jackie Wilson, who was tortured by police to extract a confession in the 1982 murders of two Chicago police officers. The charges against Andrew Horvat and Nick Trutenko, who both have been fired, were criminal in nature but could lead to civil cases as well.

Horvat and Trutenko have taken the Fifth Amendment, which is their right in a criminal case, but in a civil case, a judge or jury can take adverse inference when someone takes the Fifth.

The case of the indicted prosecutors is not the only one of alleged official illegality Cook County must reckon with. A resolution before the County Board’s Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee calls for an audit to examine how many cases the county will face going forward and for outlining how the county should approach them. The county has legal exposure in part because its prosecutors took down torture confessions and used the confessions to prosecute defendants.

As this page has pointed out before, the uninsured mounting costs are getting to the point where they will rival the cost of another underfunded pension system. In another example how money is going out the door, there are five sets of private lawyers funded by the county representing the prosecutors and the county in Wilson’s civil case in federal court.

Clearly, each case must be judged on its merits. If the city and county automatically settle with everyone, they will invite more lawsuits that might or might not be meritorious.

But victims of official misconduct should not have to wait for unnecessarily long periods to get their cases resolved, and taxpayers should not have to pay more than necessary to resolve those cases.

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