A man released from prison earlier this year after he was allegedly tortured into confessing to a 1986 rape and murder sued former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge, a host of detectives and law enforcement officials and Mayor Richard Daley, alleging they conspired to coerce false confessions that sent him and dozens of other men to prison.
Michael Tillman, 44, spent more than 23 years in prison until he was released in January when a special prosecutor declined to retry him for the 1986 murder of Betty Howard, saying there was no evidence to convict him and that there was ample evidence that his statement was the product of torture. He has since obtained a certificate of innocence, similar to a pardon.
In a federal lawsuit filed today, Tillman
alleged he was beaten, burned, smothered and threatened with death over
the course of four days until he gave a false confession to Howard's
murder and rape in fear for his life. The suit alleged that Daley, then
the Cook County state's attorney, knew about allegations of torture by
Burge for years and that the primary piece of evidence against Tillman
was his confession but still chose to seek the death penalty anyway.
