Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights
Unfortunately, irony can be as cruel as it is poetic. So while Burge will only serve 4 1/2 years for lying about the torture because the statute of limitations for prosecuting him for the crimes has expired, Eric Caine, (pictured below right) has lost more than half of his life for a crime he was tortured into confessing to.
In fact, the 45-year-old Caine has spent five more years of his life in prison than he's spent out of it.
"On the day that Jon Burge is headed for prison, Eric Caine got word he is coming home," said Caine's attorney, Russell Ainsworth.
Caine and another man were convicted in the 1986 stabbing death of a couple on the Southside of Chicago. Caine was sentenced to life in prison. His conviction was based almost entirely on his confession and testimony from co-defendant Aaron Patterson, who was sentenced to death.Both men say that they were tortured by Burge's "Midnight Crew" of rogue cops. To be clear, if police thought Caine and Patterson were guilty of a double homicide, they should have done the police work necessary to convict them. There is a system of justice where those accused of a crime must be proven to be guilty.
Instead, Burge and his cops took the easy way out and tortured two men into confessing. In addition to sending two men to prison based on false confessions, the real killers could have been left to roam the street to kill again. Burge and his cops not only assaulted the American justice system, they endangered public safety.
While Patterson was pardoned by outgoing Gov. George Ryan when he cleared death row in 2003, Caine was left behind bars, his situation not getting the same attention.
And now there are at least another 20 men in the same situation. Unlike Caine, these men's cases are not up for review and will not be looked at by the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission for months, the AP reports.
I'm sure some of these men, like Caine, have spent decades or more than half their lives in prison. And prison is a dangerous place where one can easily be maimed or killed in an instant. Every day that these cases remain unexamined is a blow to these men and their families and the little confidence that African Americans have in the American justice system.
"It's just incredibly frustrating," said Rob Warden, director of the Northwestern University School Center on Wrongful Convictions and a member of the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission.
For men like Leonard Kidd, the commission is the last hope. Kidd was convicted of a quadruple homicide in 1984 after he says Burge and his officers applied electric shock to his genitals. Derrick King said he confessed to a candy store shooting after officers beat him with a baseball bat and telephone book.
"What we want is for Leonard Kidd to have a trial without the admission of a coerced confession," said Tiffany Boye Green, who represents Kidd.
There are fears of putting convicted killers and other dangerous criminals back out on the street. That's why it is important for the commission to begin its work so that they can make carefully considered judgments.
The other thing that needs to happen is a removal of the statute of limitations on torture. There's no reason Burge should not be headed to prison for a 25-year stretch. The number of lives destroyed by the mess Burge and his officer created when they took justice into their own hands is probably incalculable.
It's past time to uncover the truth and make it right.
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