Tillman v. Burge
| Decision Date | 02 November 2011 |
| Docket Number | No. 10 C 4551.,10 C 4551. |
| Citation | 813 F.Supp.2d 946 |
| Parties | Michael TILLMAN, Plaintiff, v. Jon BURGE, former Chicago Police Department Commander; Richard M. Daley, former Mayor and former State's Attorney; John Byrne, former CPD Sergeant; Peter Dignan, former CPD detective; Ronald Boffo, former CPD detective; Jack Hines, former CPD detective; George Patton, former CPD detective; Estate of John Yucaitis, former CPD detective; Timothy Frenzer, former Cook County ASA; LeRoy Martin, former CPD Superintendent; Terry Hillard, former CPD Superintendent; Gayle Shines, former OPS Director; Thomas Needham, former aide to the CPD Superintendent; City of Chicago; Cook County, Illinois; and Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
G. Flint Taylor, Jr., Benjamin H. Elson, Joey L. Mogul, Sarah Jeanette Gelsomino, People's Law Offices, Alexa Anne Van Brunt, Locke E. Bowman, III, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.
Michael Joseph Kralovec, Sara R. McClain, Kralovec Meenan LLP, Richard Michael Beuke, Richard M. Beuke & Assoc., Terrence Michael Burns, Daniel Matthew Noland, Paul A. Michalik, Dykema Gossett PLLC, Andrew M. Hale, Avi T. Kamionski, Helena Lee Burton Wright, James T. McGovern, Shneur Z. Nathan, Andrew M. Hale & Associates, LLC, Patrick T. Driscoll, Jr., Richard Seth Shippee, Stephen L. Garcia, Allen Price Walker, Eileen Marie Letts, Kenya A. Jenkins, Greene & Letts, Chicago, IL, William George Gamboney, Jr., Oak Park, IL, for Defendants.
Plaintiff Michael Tillman served nearly 24 years in prison for a July 1986 rape and murder before his conviction was vacated and the charges dismissed by a Cook County Special Prosecutor in January 2010. He received a certificate of innocence from the Circuit Court of Cook County in February 2010. Tillman brings a host of claims against the police officers, police supervisors, and prosecutors involved in his arrest, conviction, and prolonged confinement.
Plaintiff alleges that shortly after his arrest, he was coerced to make inculpatory statements by former Chicago Police Detectives Peter Dignan, Ronald Boffo, Jack Hines, George Patton, and John Yucaitis, and by former Cook County State's Attorney Timothy Frenzer. He alleges that former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and former Sergeant John Byrne encouraged and countenanced this conduct, and that Frenzer, Burge, and Burge's subordinates suppressed evidence of Plaintiff's treatment. Plaintiff further alleges that former Mayor and State's Attorney Richard M. Daley and former Chicago Police Superintendent LeRoy Martin refused and failed to investigate a pattern of torture carried out at Area 2 prior to Plaintiff's arrest, proximately causing Plaintiff's torture and wrongful conviction. Plaintiff claims that Daley, Martin, former Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Hillard, former aide to the Chicago Police Superintendent, Thomas Needham, and former Office of Professional Standards Director Gayle Shines all conspired to suppress evidence of police torture that Plaintiff claims would have been exculpatory.
Plaintiff asserts the following claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983: deprivation of fair trial and wrongful conviction, against all individual Defendants (Count I); coercive interrogation against Daley, Burge, Byrne, Dignan, Yucaitis, Boffo, Hines, Frenzer, Patton, and Martin (Count IV); and a Monell claim against the City of Chicago (Count VI). Plaintiff asserts a claim for conspiracy under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1985 and 1986 against all individual Defendants (Count V). In addition, Plaintiff asserts six state law claims: false arrest and false imprisonment against the individual Defendants (Count VII), malicious prosecution against the individual Defendants (Count VIII), intentional infliction of emotional distress against the individual Defendants (Count IX), conspiracy against the individual Defendants (Count X), respondeat superior against the City of Chicago (Count XI), and an indemnification claim pursuant to 745 ILCS 10/9–102 against the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office (Count XII). Plaintiff has voluntarily withdrawn Count II, alleging false arrest and imprisonment against all individual Defendants, and Count III, alleging torture and physical abuse against Boffo, Burge, Byrne, Daley, Dignan, Frenzer, Hines, Martin, Patton, and Yucaitis.
Defendants have filed five separate motions to dismiss. For the reasons set forth below, the motions are granted in part and denied in part.
Plaintiff Michael Tillman brings his claims against thirteen individual Defendants, all in their individual capacities, as well as the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. Before examining the background and substance of Plaintiff's claims, the court briefly identifies the Defendants and describes their Motions to Dismiss.
Defendants Terry Hillard, Thomas Needham, Gayle Shines, and LeRoy Martin, all former City of Chicago officials (the “Municipal Defendants”), have filed a joint motion to dismiss. (Dkt. 64.) Defendant Martin served as Chicago Police Superintendent from 1987 to 1992, and before that, held positions including Commander of the Area 2 Detective Division, where he was the command supervisor for the remaining Defendant Officers, and direct supervisor to Defendant Burge. (Compl. ¶ 11.) Defendant Hillard served as Chicago Police Superintendent from 1998 to 2004. ( Id. ¶ 12.) Defendant Needham was counsel to, and administrative assistant for, Superintendent Hillard from 1998 to 2002. ( Id. ¶ 13.) Defendant Shines was the Director of the Chicago Police Department's Office of Professional Standards from 1990 to 1998. ( Id. ¶ 15.)
Defendants John Byrne, Peter Dignan, Jack Hines, Ronald Boffo, George Patton, and the Estate of John Yucaitis (the “Defendant Officers”) 1, have filed a motion to dismiss jointly with the City of Chicago. (Dkt. 67.) Defendant Jon Burge has filed an individual motion to dismiss, which also adopts some arguments made by the Defendant Officers and the City of Chicago. (Dkt. 78.)
Defendant Jon Burge was the commanding officer of Area 2 Detective Violent Crimes Unit from 1982 until August of 1986. (Compl. ¶ 7.) In this capacity, Burge was the supervising Lieutenant of Defendants Byrne, Dignan, Boffo, Yucaitis, Hines, and Patton. ( Id.) Defendant John Byrne served as a Sergeant in the Area 2 Detective Violent Crimes Unit from 1982 to August of 1986. ( Id. ¶ 8.) Defendants Dignan, Boffo, Yucaitis, Hines, and Patton were Chicago Police Detectives in the Area 2 Violent Crimes Unit. ( Id. ¶ 10.) Byrne directly supervised Defendants Dignan, Boffo, and Yucaitis. ( Id. ¶ 8.)
In 1988, Burge was appointed Commander of Area 3 Detective Division by Defendant Martin. ( Id. ¶ 7.) Burge held this assignment until 1991, when the Chicago Police Department fired him for the torture and abuse of Andrew Wilson. ( Id.) On June 28, 2010, Burge was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying about police torture. ( Id.; United States v. Burge, No. 08 CR 846, 2011 WL 167230 (N.D.Ill. Jan. 19, 2011); United States v. Burge, No. 08 CR 846, 2011 WL 13471 (N.D.Ill. Jan. 3, 2011).) On January 21, 2011, Judge Lefkow sentenced Burge to 54 months in prison. ( United States v. Burge, No. 08 CR 846 [362].) He is currently in federal custody at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina. (Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator.)
Defendants Timothy Frenzer, Cook County, and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office have filed a joint motion to dismiss. (Dkt. 61.) Defendant Frenzer is a former Assistant Cook County State's Attorney who was assigned to the Felony Review Unit. (Compl. ¶ 17.)
Defendant Richard Daley filed an individual motion to dismiss. (Dkt. 65.) From 1981 to 1989, Daley served as the State's Attorney of Cook County. (Compl. ¶ 14.) From 1989 through the filing of this suit, Daley was the Mayor of the City of Chicago. ( Id.) Cook County does not join Daley's motion to dismiss, and Plaintiff explains in his response brief that the majority of his claims against Daley do not relate to Daley's actions while State's Attorney. (Pl.'s Resp. to Daley Br. at 19 n.10.)
Plaintiff's 46–page complaint sets forth an account of the murder of Betty Howard and Plaintiff's arrest and prosecution for that murder, including the torture he alleges he endured at the hands of Area 2 police officers. The complaint also details the history of torture at Area 2 and the alleged involvement of the various Defendants in that torture and in subsequent efforts to cover it up. The allegations are summarized below, and are presumed true for purposes of this motion.
Police found Betty Howard's body in the early morning hours of July 21, 1986, in a vacant apartment in the building in which Howard and Plaintiff both resided. (Compl. ¶ 20.) Howard had been beaten, stabbed and shot, and was found gagged, naked from the waist down, and tied by her wrists to a radiator. People v. Tillman, 226 Ill.App.3d 1, 4, 168 Ill.Dec. 187, 589 N.E.2d 587, 589 (1st Dist.1991).2 Later that morning, at approximately 6:30 a.m., Plaintiff voluntarily went to the Area 2 police headquarters, where he was taken into an interview room for questioning by Defendants Boffo and Dignan. ( Id. ¶ 22.) Later that day, Defendants Hines and Patton joined the investigation. ( Id. ¶ 23.) Plaintiff alleges that over the course of the next four days, Defendants Boffo, Dignan, Hines, Patton, and Yucaitis held Plaintiff incommunicado and tortured him, and that Plaintiff eventually made false inculpatory statements to Yucaitis. ( ...
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Smith v. Burge
...that similar allegations state a Brady claim based on events that transpired outside of the interrogation room. See Tillman v. Burge, 813 F.Supp.2d 946, 962 (N.D. Ill. 2011) (allegations of " ‘suppressing, destroying, and preventing the discovery’ of exculpatory evidence, including that of ......
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