Anita Alvarez Under Fire For Declining To Prosecute Police Perjury Case

By aaroncynic in News on Dec 15, 2015 8:00PM

As Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez faces growing criticism for her failures in prosecuting police officers accused of wrongdoing, details of another case where Alvarez chose not to bring formal charges against an officer have surfaced. A piece by Daniel Denvir at Salon revealed that Alvarez's office summarily halted an investigation into a police officer who lied on the stand during a 2011 hearing.

“It’s a powerful example of State’s Attorney Alvarez’s refusal to address systemic perjury by Chicago police,” civil rights attorney Craig Futterman, who reviewed the case, told Salon.

In April of 2011, Chicago Police officer Allyson Bogdalek denied that a South Side liquor store owner who had been robbed and shot in the leg, had been shown photos of possible suspects prior to the arrest of Ranceallen Hankerson, who was accused of the crime. After Bogdalek testified she hadn’t shown any photographs to the victim, Hankerson’s defense attorney played a recording from the officer’s squad car, where she can be heard asking a superior if they should take Hankerson into custody even though the victim failed to identify him in a photo array. According to the Better Government Association, Alvarez’s office dropped the charges against Hankerson.

Bogdalek admitted that she lied after the hearing and prosecutors opened an investigation, recommending she be indicted for perjury, obstructing justice and official misconduct. But in 2014, Alvarez instructed Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren Freeman that no charges would be filed in the case, and left no written explanation. According to a statement by Sally Daly, a spokesperson for the State’s Attorney’s office, the decision not to move forward was based on an “evaluation of both the strengths and weaknesses,” of the case and how they would play out during a trial:

“We face a reality here in Cook County, and around the country, that it is extremely difficult to convince judges or juries to convict police officers of misconduct in the line of duty. The ultimate analysis in this case led to the determination that the State would not have been able to meet the legal standard that is required, which is proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Prosecutors also confronted Bogdalek’s partner, Officer Catinella. Catinella initially denied that the photo array was shown and allegedly even encouraged Bogdalek, along with other unnamed superiors, to lie about it, but later also recanted and apologized to prosecutors.

The information came to light because of separate cases that the officer was involved in, which resulted in a FOIA suit.

The implications, as Futterman tells Salon, are grave:

“If she’s not going to prosecute perjury in this case, it’s difficult to imagine any case in which she would. It sends a strong message to police officers not only that this is OK, but to keep on doing it. This is how we win our cases. She’s not going to bite the hand that feeds her convictions.”