Crime & Law

Lawsuit Filed by Man Who Spent More Than 29 Years in Prison After Being Tortured, Wrongfully Convicted Set for Trial

A lawsuit filed by a man who spent more than 29 years in prison on a double murder conviction after he was tortured by Chicago police detectives will head to trial in April, a federal judge ruled.

The police detectives who tortured James Gibson were directly supervised by Jon Burge, a disgraced former Chicago police commander. Dozens of lawsuits and complaints alleging physical abuse have been filed against detectives trained by Burge, who city officials admit tortured and beat more than 100 Black men during his career.

Although no physical evidence or eyewitness ever linked Gibson to the murders of 61-year-old Lloyd Benjamin and 56-year-old Hunter Wash in an Englewood garage in December 1989, the then 23-year-old was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison after telling police he was in the garage when the two men were killed.

For more than three decades, Gibson has said he made that statement after being punched in his ribs and neck 30 to 40 times, kicked in the groin twice, and slapped several times while handcuffed to a table during an interrogation that lasted three days. Not only was Gibson denied food and water while being questioned by police, but he also claims an officer used a “silver-colored iron” to burn a tattoo off his right arm, leaving a triangular-shaped scar, according to his lawsuit, which he filed five years ago.

The jury trial before U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Cummings is set to start April 28, and could last four weeks, court records show.

Unless a settlement is reached in the next three months and approved by the Chicago City Council, the city and its lawyers will have to convince a jury that Chicago Police detectives under the command of Burge, who directly supervised the homicide investigation, did nothing wrong.

Chicago taxpayers paid $2.6 million to four private law firms through Jan. 7 to defend the 11 officers named in the lawsuit, including Burge, according to documents obtained by WTTW News through the Freedom of Information Act.

None of the officers named in the lawsuit remain on the force, and five are dead, records show.

A spokesperson for Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry declined to comment on Gibson’s lawsuit.

“The city understands the serious and complex nature of reverse conviction cases,” spokesperson Kristen Cabanban said.  “Publicly discussing ongoing litigation would jeopardize the integrity of the legal process.”

Andrew M. Stroth, Gibson’s lawyer, declined to comment on the pending jury trial.

After being released from police custody and before being arrested and charged with the murders, Gibson filed a complaint with the Chicago Police Office of Professional Standards, the agency that was charged with investigating police misconduct, alleging he had been beaten by several officers.

After his arrest, Gibson’s lawyer at the time obtained a court order to have his injuries photographed, including bruises on his chest and buttocks.

After Burge said detectives under his command did not assault Gibson, the complaint Gibson filed was dismissed.

Eric Johnson, who was also convicted of the murders of Benjamin and Wash, also alleged he was beaten by detectives. Johnson was released from prison in 2012 after accepting a plea bargain that allowed him to maintain his innocence while acknowledging sufficient evidence for a conviction.

In 2015, the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission ordered a Cook County judge to hear Gibson’s claims of torture and false confession, finding there was ample evidence to support those accusations.

Two of the detectives who interrogated Gibson, John Paladino and John E. Byrne, asserted their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and refused to testify during that proceeding.

In March 2019, an appeals court vacated Gibson’s convictions, and he was released a month later when all of the charges were dismissed. In August 2020, Gibson was granted a certificate of innocence by a Cook County judge.

A trial would represent a high-stakes gamble for the city after juries in two separate police misconduct cases ordered the city to pay a combined $130 million to those who claimed to have been harmed by Chicago police.

In September, a federal jury ordered the city to pay $50 million to Marcel Brown, who spent 10 years in prison after being convicted of a murder he did not commit.

In December, a Cook County jury ordered the city to pay $79.85 million to the family of a 10-year-old girl who was killed after a 2020 police chase.

Annually, the city budgets $82 million to resolve the cost of police misconduct lawsuits.

Detectives trained by Burge have faced dozens of lawsuits and complaints alleging they physically abused those they suspected of committing crimes to coerce confessions.

City officials have acknowledged that Burge tortured and beat more than 100 Black men, from the 1970s to the 1990s. Chicago taxpayers have now paid approximately $140 million in lawsuit settlements and judgments related to Burge’s conduct, including $5.5 million in reparations for torture survivors, approved in 2015 by the Chicago City Council.

In January, the City Council agreed to pay $8.75 million to Mark Maxson, who spent nearly 25 years behind bars after being convicted of murdering a 6-year-old boy based on a confession he said was coerced by Chicago police detectives trained by Burge.

Fired by the Chicago Police Department in 1993, Burge was convicted of perjury in 2010. Released from prison in 2014, Burge died four years later at the age of 70. He never faced criminal charges related to his time as an officer, and collected a pension from the city of Chicago until the day he died.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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