Attorney: Burge Admitted Suspect Was Beaten

By Prescott Carlson in News on Jun 10, 2010 9:45PM

An attorney acquainted with former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge through her boyfriend testified today that Burge told her police had beat murder suspect Andrew Wilson to gain a confession. Burge is currently on trial for perjury and obstruction of justice and is accused of lying in a civil suit about having knowledge of any police torture of suspects.

According to WGN, Diane Panos said on the stand that she had engaged in a conversation with Burge when he bragged about Wilson's arrest and the subsequent abuse to get Wilson to confess. Panos was quoted as saying she was "appalled" by Burge's statements. Another attorney, who represented Andrew Wilson at the time, testified that when she visited Wilson in lockup he was bleeding, bruised and she "saw burn marks on his chest."

Yesterday, John Conroy reports that a nurse who worked at Mercy Hospital's emergency room in 1982 was there when police officers brought in Wilson, who she says had "fresh injuries on his face and head." She said when Wilson changed his mind about receiving treatment, one of the officers pulled his gun for the entire time Wilson's forehead was being sutured. Wilson was subsequently convicted for the murder of two police officers, and died in prison in 2007.

Prosecutors are reportedly expected to call Gregory Banks, who won a civil lawsuit against Burge and other officers after he claimed they put a gun in his mouth and other abuses to coerce him to confess to a 1983 murder.