Defense Rests In Burge Case

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jun 23, 2010 2:20PM

The defense in the Jon Burge perjury and obstruction of justice trial has rested their case and closing arguments will begin on Thursday. The primary defense witness yesterday was then-court stenographer Michael Hartnett who testified that, when taking Andrew Wilson's confession, he did see two injuries but didn't see any signs of torture: "Andrew had a scar over his right eye, and over the side of his right eye, it was swollen, puffy or whatever. I don't recall seeing (burns)." Hartnett admitted, though, “If it was one of my kids, I would have said, you know, they got popped by someone." The defense wrapped with former Assistant State’s Attorney Wilbur Crooks who said that Shadeed Mu’min, who accused Burge of playing Russian roulette with a gun pointed at his forehead, never complained about being mistreated. The prosecution only called one rebuttal witness and that was that; as John Conroy said, it's all over but the shouting. Closing arguments were scheduled for today but were postponed until tomorrow due to an unspecified emergency amongst the lawyers.