Prominent Defense Attorney Could Be Called To Testify in Chicago Police Torture Case

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Bob Cooley, the onetime crooked lawyer who became a crucial witness to bring down lawyers, judges and mobsters decades ago in Operation Gambat, could be called as a witness in an unlikely case: a Chicago Police torture trial.

Lawyers for freed Death Row inmate Aaron Patterson disclosed last week they want to call Cooley to "testify to the methods, procedures, integrity, and character of specific judges, attorneys and policemen involved in Plaintiff Patterson's arrest, torture, coercion to falsely 'confess.' "

Patterson is suing former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and others, accusing them of torture to coerce a false confession to a double murder. Former Gov. George Ryan freed Patterson from Death Row in 2003. But Patterson landed right back behind bars after he was convicted of dealing drugs and weapons.

The disclosure of Cooley's possible testimony came last week as Patterson's lawyers filed court papers summarizing their witnesses.

Robert Cooley has been one of the greatest witnesses in federal court history.Here's Cooley's story.