{"id":179635,"date":"2010-01-14T09:30:45","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T14:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\/?p=10173"},"modified":"2010-01-14T09:30:45","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T14:30:45","slug":"court-expected-to-order-release-of-innocent-burge-torture-victim-from-prison-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/179635","title":{"rendered":"Court Expected to Order Release of Innocent Burge Torture Victim from Prison Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

23 1\/2 Years After Wrongful Conviction, State to Drop Charges against Michael Tillman<\/span>, Attorneys Anticipate<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

<\/span>\"\"The following was released today by the MacArthur Justice Center:<\/strong><\/p>\n

WHAT:<\/strong> Ending a 23 1\/2 year ordeal for another victim of torture linked to indicted former Chicago<\/span> Police Commander Jon Burge (pictured at right)<\/span>, a Cook County Circuit Court Judge is expected on Thursday to vacate the wrongful murder conviction of Michael Tillman<\/span> and order a new trial in his case. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is anticipated \u00a0that Cook County Special Prosecutors, who have previously informed the judge that they believe Tillman’s confession was coerced by Area 2 brutality, and that they have no additional evidence of guilt, will then dismiss the 1986 murder charge against Tillman during a hearing Thursday before Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Tillman will then be released, his attorneys anticipate.<\/p>\n

Tillman’s petition for a new trial in the case, which stands unopposed by the Special Prosecutors, sets forth evidence that Tillman’s wrongful conviction was hinged on a bogus confession that Burge’s infamous “Midnight Crew” at Area 2 Police Headquarters tortured from him during a three-day interrogation, which included a crude form of waterboarding, suffocation with a plastic bag, beating with a telephone book, and a mock execution at a remote site.<\/p>\n

The Prosecutors also have not contested Tillman’s evidence that he was factually innocent of the murder.<\/p>\n

Significantly, this is the firm time a Cook County<\/span> Prosecutor has acknowledged that a Burge victim’s coerced confession was a result of “a pattern and practice of abuse at Area 2 in regards to numerous suspects.”<\/p>\n