On Wednesday former Chicago Police Lieutenant John Burge was sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison for his role in coercing confessions and lying about his involvement. Yesterday, the day after Burge’s sentencing, one of the men he had forced to confess was freed from an Illinois state penitentiary after 22 years of incarceration.
Eric Caine and co-defendant Aaron Patterson were convicted in 1989 in the stabbing deaths of a Chicago couple. The convictions were based solely on the confessions of the men. There was no DNA, fingerprints or any other evidence linking them to the crime. Patterson was sentenced to death, Caine to life in prison. Caine avoided the death penalty by one vote on his jury.
During his interrogation, Caine reports that he was told he would be better off confessing than to face what would happen if he did not. He was beaten by police severely enough to rupture an eardrum and was threatened with a gun before breaking down and telling Burge and his “Midnight Squad” what they wanted to hear.
Patterson was removed from death row in 2000 as part of Illinois’ moratorium on the death penalty and received a pardon from then Governor George Ryan in 2003. His pardon was one of four former death row inmates whose confessions had been coerced by authorities. Patterson would later return to a life of crime and is now serving a 30 year sentence in federal prison related to drug and gang activities.
Eric Caine walked out of prison yesterday with nothing but a Bible and a handful of family photos to show for his 22 years behind bars. His attorney had to buy him a pair of shoes to wear as he walked into freedom and sunshine for the first time in more than two decades.
On March 9, 2011 Governor Patrick Quinn signed legislation making Illinois the sixteenth state to abolish the death penalty. In the eleven years from Governor Ryan’s moratorium on capital punishment to last weeks abolition, Illinois had attempted numerous reforms to perfect the administration of the death penalty. In the end its leaders determined that capital punishment could not be administered with the certainty necessary to justify its continuation.
In supporting the abolition, former Governor Ryan, a vocal supporter of capital punishment prior to experiencing its application first hand as governor, said “It’s not possible to create a perfect, mistake-free death penalty system.”
As one who devoted a good part of 20 years of my professional life to defending those accused of capital crimes at both the trial and appellate level, I can vouch from first hand experience that coercion and misconduct are not limited to one commander or one “squad” in Illinois. While the vast majority of law enforcement personnel are honorable public servants, there are a small percentage who are not.
My experience includes imprisoning suspects in motel rooms with phones cut off to isolate the person from contact and prevent the appointment of an attorney which would have come with an official arrest. It includes a police sergeant testifying in court to finding evidence in “plain view” when his own handwritten notes showed that was not the case. It includes law enforcement officers filing false reports months after events in attempts to cover up police misconduct.
My views on capital punishment are no secret to regular readers here. Police misconduct is one of the reasons forming the basis of my opinion. It is not the only reason. The events of Wednesday and yesterday add to my conviction that Illinois was right to abolish capital punishment and that other states should follow suit.
Eric Caine was lucky. By one vote he was spared the death penalty, and by virtue of the efforts of dedicated lawyers and investigators the injustice of his case was reversed. In other circumstances, perhaps in other states, 22 years would have been too long had he been sentenced to death, and his execution might have been carried out long before the injustice was uncovered.
Contributor, aka tidbits. Retired attorney in complex litigation, death penalty defense and constitutional law. Former Nat’l Board Chair: Alzheimer’s Association. Served on multiple political campaigns, including two for U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR). Contributing author to three legal books and multiple legal publications.