In the latest case alleging criminal conduct by officers from the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, two correctional officers were indicted Thursday on first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of a West Side man.
John LaVelle, 32, and Esteban Perkins, 31, are being held without bond in the shooting death of Jeffrey Smith, 22, whom the officers confronted May 3 about a drug debt owed by Smith’s father, prosecutors said.
A third County Jail guard, Morris Richardson, 29, was indicted on charges of official misconduct for allegedly trying to collect drug money from the Smith family, prosecutors said.
In another case, Thomas Wilson, 37, accused of beating James Degorski, one of two suspects in the 1993 Brown’s Chicken massacre, was indicted on charges of official misconduct and aggravated battery.
The indictments come a week after five sheriff’s officers were acquitted on criminal charges relating to a chase during which an officer fired at an SUV in which a Blue Island couple were riding. That case, and a series of other allegations against sheriff’s officers over the last year, have prompted widespread criticism of the Sheriff’s Department and calls for Sheriff Michael Sheahan to enforce higher standards in the hiring and supervision of officers.
Sheahan, who declined to comment Thursday, defended his department in interviews this week, saying the instances of criminal conduct by officers are rare and are not representative of the office as a whole.
“The office is light-years ahead of where it was 10 years ago,” Sheahan said, adding that 98 percent of his employees “do a great job.”
Sheahan, a former Chicago police officer and alderman who defeated the incumbent sheriff in 1990, said the department has a good reputation nationally and that misconduct by a few individuals is hurting the reputation of the entire office.
“Individuals will never, never run the department,” he said. “The department is here and it’s an institution and its reputation depends on what we do every day.”
Critics said the system at the sheriff’s office is broken, and they called on Sheahan to set a firm tone that criminal behavior and violating department rules will not be tolerated.
“There’s been an unacceptable level of violence that has resulted in litigation and an unacceptable level of, quite frankly, poor judgment,” said Cook County Commissioner Peter Silvestri, who heads the County Board’s litigation committee. “We spend too much on avoidable acts, at the jail especially.”
County officials were told recently that they could expect to pay nearly $1 million in legal fees over two years to defend the county against a civil lawsuit brought by the family of Louis Schmude, who died in custody. Three sheriff’s deputies accused of beating Schmude to death were acquitted of first-degree murder charges in March.
Since 1998, Cook County has paid about $2.5 million to settle civil lawsuits arising from allegations of misconduct by sheriff’s personnel, the Tribune reported earlier this year.
Independent panel urged
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Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, a frequent sheriff’s office critic, said an independent body needs to be brought in to investigate the department, implement reforms and report to the County Board.
Quigley suggested a format similar to the Kolts Commission, a special panel headed by a former judge that brought about reforms in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department with a report 10 years ago.
“We’re the ones writing the checks for the culture in the system that they have put in place,” said Quigley, noting the sheriff is separately elected but the board approves the budget and pays the bills. “Now’s the time for him to say we have a real serious problem and I want to be part of the solution.”
Sheahan said Wednesday that he has an independent consultant currently studying the department, examining its disciplinary process “to look at overall what we do right and what we do wrong.”
According to the indictments Thursday, the officers were hired to collect the debt by two friends who they had met while working security at an electronics store on the West Side.
Assistant State’s Atty. Nancy Donahoe said LaVelle and Perkins went to Smith’s home in the 1400 block of North Lotus Avenue on May 3.
The officers, accompanied by the two friends, banged on the door. When the victim opened it, Donahoe said, LaVelle, who was carrying his .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and one of the friends fired, striking Smith in the upper torso. Smith died three days later in Cook County Hospital, Donahoe said.
The officers were arrested May 16, after a sheriff’s investigator posing as a relative of one of the friends gave LaVelle an $8,000 payoff, which was to be shared by all four men for their efforts at collecting the debt, Donahoe said.
In addition to murder, the officers were accused of multiple counts of official misconduct; aggravated unlawful restraint; residential burglary and attempted aggravated kidnapping.
Suspensions, other charges
Sheahan has suspended all four officers indicted Thursday without pay and has taken steps to have them fired, said Sheahan spokesman Bill Cunningham.
Last week, another correctional officer, John Bittenbinder, 31, was charged with disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a weapon for allegedly brandishing a handgun at another driver outside a video store.
Meanwhile, correctional officer Timothy Brogan, 25, of Evergreen Park is awaiting trial on charges of official misconduct and obstruction of justice in the death of Water Department foreman John Chambers, who was killed in a brawl after a wedding reception in August 2000.
Civil lawsuits pending
The department also is facing numerous civil suits alleging misconduct by officers, including one brought by a 57-year-old electrician who alleges he was pistol-whipped by a sheriff’s officer in January 2001 in the hallway of Austin High School.
Among the evidence introduced in that case is a deposition from a top aide to Sheahan, Sgt. Terry Lanigan, the sheriff officer’s supervisor, who was asked about training in the department. Lanigan’s nephew, Thomas Lanigan, was one of the five officers acquitted last week on charges of chasing and firing at the Blue Island couple. (This paragraph as published has been corrected in this text.)
Echoing criticisms of the Sheriff’s Department leveled this week by Rev. Jesse Jackson, County Commissioner Earlean Collins said Thursday there was a culture of violence in the office. She said, however, the problem was bigger than Sheahan.
“The people are out of control and he couldn’t control them if he wanted to,” Collins said. “You know why there’s a culture of violence there? Because they can get away with it.”