Illinois Senators and House Representatives
Capitol Building, Spring Field, Illinois

Dear Honorable Personages:

If you be men and women of good conscience who know that torture has no home in a democracy, please help us help over 100 police torture victims who are about to suffer an unfavorable ruling by attorneys from the office of Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Friday morning, October 1st, Madigan’s office will argue to deny the petition of former death row police torture victim Victor Safforld, aka Cortez Brown, before Cook County Court Judge McSweeney Moore. This being her first action on behalf of the Burge police torture victims could very well set a precedent and thus help to seal the fate of over one hundred Black and Latino men who were tortured with electro-shock, suffocation and severe beatings by former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and his detectives. At the time Madigan replaced State’s Attorney Dick Devine on the Burge cases for his conflict of interest, she said as A.G. she “would never cover up the truth.”
I ask that you please call her office and ask her to fulfill her promise to Victor’s pastor, Larry Turpin, to “wait until Special Prosecutor Judge Egan has released his findings” into Burge and his detectives, “before ruling on any cases.” Her refusal to wait proves she is taking sides. And I say with no exaggeration that she is siding with monsters.
At Area 3, Victor was brutally beaten by John Palladino, Anthony Maslanka, and John O’Brien—all whom worked with Jon Burge. These same detectives were involved in the Marcus Wiggins case—a 13-year-old boy who was beaten into confessing for a crime he did not commit and later exonerated. The following is an excerpt from M.W’s appeal: “When Det. Maslanka, Star #16161, returned to the interrogation room a third time, he carried a rectangular shaped silver box with a round black knob on it and two black cords, each with a small plastic paddle, extending from it. The silver box was attached to a white extension cord that trailed out of the interrogation room on the floor. Det. Maslanka, placed the box on a rectangular table in the room and then handcuffed [13 yr. old Marcus Wiggins] from the wall. The detective placed [M.W.] in a chair next to the table and placed each of his hands, extended in front of him, on the table. The detective turned the knob on the silver box and it emitted a ‘whirring’ sound…As [M.W.’s] hands were extended in front of him and rested palm down on the interrogation table, Det. Maslanka, placed a small plastic paddle on each of the handles extending upward from each paddle. When he did so a jolt of electricity was emitted and [13 yr. old M.W.’s] head thrust backwards, his eyes rolled up and back in the sockets, his jaw clamped together, he couldn’t keep his eyelids open and felt like he was being ‘knocked out.’ After being shocked with electricity from the silver box, [M.W,] apparently made a second statement to Det. Maslanka of which he has no memory of making.” These same detectives repeatedly beat Victor Safforld with a flashlight on the back of his legs and on his head. They threatened to kill him and members of his family. After hours of abuse without food or use of a bathroom, Victor signed a false statement. He used a false name, "Cortez Brown." Victor hoped that by signing a false name, he could explain to the courts that the statement was false. Instead, he was convicted of two felony murders and sentenced to death. There are no eyewitnesses to the crimes for which Victor was convicted. In the first case, a witness simply claimed to have seen Victor a block away from the shooting. At Victor’s trial, an eyewitness to one of the crimes could not even identify Victor as one of the shooters.
If America remains a democracy and we condemn torture abroad, then what about torture in our own backyard? Given, as Judge Milton Shadur, said “it’s common knowledge that torture did occur,” I ask you Illinois’ Senators and Representatives please protect our human rights. Be on the side of progress instead of reaction. Let’s not wait for the historians to judge us. Let’s be our own judge. Silence = Conspiracy but Truth = Progress. Which side are you on?

Respectfully,

Joan P. Parkin, Coordinator Enough is Enough! Campaign

c.c. Il.Senators and Representatives; Attorney General Lisa Madigan; Governor Rod Blagojavich; United States Congress; President Bush, Local and National Media