Recently we examined the spat between Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and his police department. At the time I noted the long history of corruption and misconduct on the part of Chicago PD. It now appears that extends upward and outward through the city’s administration.
A veteran attorney in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration resigned hours after a federal judge ruled Monday that he intentionally concealed crucial evidence in a trial over a fatal Chicago police shooting and then lied about his reasons for doing so.
The abrupt departure of Senior Corporation Counsel Jordan Marsh, who has worked for the city since 1997, was the latest black eye for the mayor’s office in the continuing fallout over the city’s handling of police shootings.
In overturning the jury’s verdict in a lawsuit brought by the family of Darius Pinex, U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang imposed sanctions against the city and Marsh, ordering that they pay attorney’s fees to plaintiffs that likely will amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars even before a retrial can take place.
. . .
It is the second time in less than a year that Chang has sanctioned city lawyers for withholding evidence in separate police misconduct lawsuits.
Steve Greenberg, an attorney who represents Pinex’s family, said the ruling raises questions about the Law Department’s role in perpetuating a police culture in which officers believe they can act with impunity.
“There’s just a total disregard for the truth, and it runs to the highest levels,” Greenberg said. “There is a culture to cover up and win at all costs.”
There’s more at the link. It’s well worth clicking through to read the article in full, as a warning about how laxity can grow into full-scale institutionalized corruption that renders the rule of law moot. What’s more, although Chicago is a particularly egregious example, we’ve already seen in the St. Louis, MO area how officially-sanctioned misconduct and mismanagement can alienate residents from police and city administrators. The “Ferguson Effect” is real.
I hope that, as the article suggests, the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission will take Mr. Marsh’s actions and conduct under consideration. If he’s allowed to get away with them, without proper punishment or even disciplinary action, it’ll only perpetuate the problem.
Peter
I would further suggest that this is a nationwide problem to the point where we no longer have a justice system that is concerned with justice. The FBI lab has been caught hiding exculpatory evidence and even manufacturing evidence. The ATF has their problems. The Duke lacrosse case, SWAT team abuses, and more illustrate that the police and prosecutors in thin country have adopted an "Us versus them" philosophy that is more concerned with winning than with justice.
As police gain more and more power, it is easy to see how you get to death squads and people disappearing in the night.
I am shocked, shocked, to learn that the government of the city of Chicago is corrupt.
Corruption in Chi Town? Boulder-dash, you say.
That a lawyer would do such a thing, especially a democrat lawyer in Chicago, leaves me speechless.