Chicago Police Torture Victim Goes Free After 23 Years

The Chicago Tribune reports:

A convicted murderer serving a life sentence that has kept him in prison for more than 23 years walked out of the Cook County Criminal Courthouse a free man today after prosecutors declined to re-try him amid allegations that detectives under former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge tortured him into confessing.

After Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan granted Michael Tillman a new trial this morning, Assistant Special State's Atty. Myles O'Rourke formally dropped charges in the case.
Tillman was convicted of the 1986 murder and rape of Betty Howard.

Attorneys for Tillman, 43, alleged that following his arrest, detectives under the now-disgraced Burge beat him, put a plastic bag over his head, pointed a gun at him and poured 7-Up into his nose during his interrogation.

Here's Patrick Fitzgerald, from October of 2008, concerning Jon Burge: