In a move that a federal court judge said could chill free-speech protections, city lawyers last week demanded that a citizens group protesting police brutality turn over its records and have one of its leaders submit to questioning.
The city`s demand was blocked Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Ilana Rovner, who said it could interefere with the free-speech rights of the Task Force to Confront Police Violence, according to attorneys at the hearing.
The task force, a small ad hoc organization, has held demonstrations demanding the firing of officers accused of brutality.
City Law Department spokeswoman Andrea Brands said Sunday that the organization`s records were sought because it distributed leaflets that ”are worded in such a way that it appears they have information about police brutality. We want to know what that information is.”
In her ruling, Rovner said she did not see how the organization`s records related to the brutality charges in the case before her, but she left open the option of the city filing another subpoena if it can show the records are relevant, attorneys said.
The court battle was the latest episode related to the dismissal hearings of former Brighton Park Area Detective Cmdr. Jon Burge, who was suspended along with two detectives in November after Supt. LeRoy Martin concluded that the three tortured or allowed the torture of cop killer Andrew Wilson in 1982. All three officers face dismissal hearings before the Police Board based on Martin`s charges.
For several years, task force members have called for Burge`s firing at Police Board meetings and public rallies.
On Jan. 10, city attorney Donald Zoufal issued a subpoena for task force member Tim Lohraff, an attorney, to turn over to the city all of the organization`s records and submit to questioning.
The subpoena was issued as part of an unrelated federal brutality lawsuit brought against four officers by John Rader, a Du Page County resident who contends he was beaten by Chicago police during his arrest for theft in January 1990. Rader, whose suit said he was found innocent, is seeking $2.8 million in damages.
Rader`s attorney alleged that the city has a policy of not disciplining brutal officers and cited as evidence the longstanding torture charges against Burge, as well as allegations against more than a dozen other officers.
It was in an effort to gather information about this supposed policy, Zoufal said in court documents, that he subpoenaed the task force.
Attached to his subpoena as an exhibit was a task force leaflet, showing a picture of Burge along with the words ”wanted for torture,” that says there is ”evidence of systematic torture” by Burge and other officers.
Lohraff`s attorney, David Philipps, said the subpoena would allow Zoufal access to the task force`s lists of members, contributors and supporters, as well as other internal records, in violation of the group`s 1st Amendment guarantee of freedom of expression and association.
”It is particularly disturbing because the city is doing this on behalf of police officers accused of brutality,” Philipps said.
More Top Picks Memory Foam Mattresses
Zoufal said he was willing to modify his subpoena to exempt membership records, but Philipps argued Lohraff would still be required to answer questions about who was in the organization.
”We are not trying to oppress anybody. We would simply like to see what evidence they have,” said Brands, adding that the matter is under review.