Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Is it time for a Special Prosecutor??

Cook County States Attorney Alvarez
by Carol Marin:
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez says she’s running for re-election.
And though some names of possible opponents are being tossed around — former Inspector General David Hoffman and Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey — no one, so far, is running against her.
She will be hard to beat.
In the 2008 Democratic primary’s six-way race, Alvarez clobbered Bob Milan, the endorsed candidate of her predecessor, Dick Devine. And almost everyone else. Only former alderman, now judge, Tom Allen got within 10,000 votes of her.
The first woman and first Hispanic to win that powerful job, she made it clear that despite being a 21-year veteran of the state’s attorney’s office, she was no defender of the status quo, nobody’s good old boy.
Now comes the David Koschman case to test that claim. And to become an election issue if a strong candidate opposes her.
Readers of the Sun-Times know this story well.
David Koschman, a 21-year-old from Mount Prospect, and three of his buddies were hitting the bars on Division Street in the wee hours of April 25, 2004, when they ran into a slightly older group, including Richard R. J. Vanecko, the nephew of former mayor Richard M. Daley, who was partying with other young Daley family friends. Everyone had been drinking. Words were exchanged. One punch was thrown. Koschman, small in stature, was hit, his head crashing onto the street.
Vanecko, described as the tallest and largest in the crowd, fled with a friend. (Not until this year did Chicago Police acknowledge he threw the punch.)
The Daley friends did not give police Vanecko’s name until many days later. By that time, David Koschman was dead.
While R.J. Vanecko undoubtedly did not mean to kill David Koschman, this case was not handled like a normal police matter. We know that thanks to the relentless reporting of the Sun-Times’ Tim Novak and Chris Fusco who, in the last nine months, have uncovered “missing” police files, omissions of critical information that were crossed out of a detective’s notes, and the unbelievable absence of any record, notation, or log entry at the Cook County state’s attorney’s office memorializing prosecutors’ involvement in the case — even though it had been asked to consult with police.
Newly obtained Chicago Police reports show Detective Ronald Yawger “arranged interview w/Victim’s friends & ASA” on May 18, 2004. That “ASA” was Assistant State’s Attorney and Felony Review chief Darren O’Brien. It is amazing that the state’s attorney’s office has not one record of it — especially because O’Brien would personally interview witnesses two days later.
Alvarez initially argued our Sun-Times reporting was unfair to her. And then she said she would turn the matter over to the Illinois State Police — without mentioning that the No. 2 man in her investigations bureau was just about to be named the head of the State Police. A conflict of interest even a first-year law student would spot.
The State Police, properly, took a pass.
The only independent investigator on this case, at the moment, is Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson. And he, unlike Alvarez, has no power to convene a grand jury.
Alvarez needs to affirm the promise she made during her first campaign: that she is not an old school pol defending the status quo.
She needs to ask the chief judge of Cook County’s criminal courts to appoint a special prosecutor with grand jury powers — and no conflicts of interest with her office — to get to the bottom of this awful case.
It would make a powerful campaign commercial.

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/14/2011

    People that get into fights need to be held accountable for the resulting damage. I think Vanecko should face justice. The coverup needs to end.

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  2. Anonymous9/14/2011

    If his uncle wasn't the mayor, he would be in jail now. Shame on the Daley's. Shame on all of us for putting up with it

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  3. Anonymous9/14/2011

    tick tock tick tock........nov 2012 cant come soon enough!

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  4. Anonymous9/15/2011

    Vanecko is on the lam in LA.

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  5. Anonymous9/16/2011

    Shame on Alvarez for not recommending a Special Prosecutor herself. This Alvarez is NO Law Enforcement official who wants to get to the bottom of things and find the truth, as any real Detective/Investigator does. This Alvarez is a typical Democrat Crook County Politician, playing ball with the Regime.

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  6. Anonymous9/16/2011

    Sorry but I think we need a real prosecutor there. She doesn't seem serious. How can she be removed?

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  7. Anonymous9/16/2011

    How do u get justice in this town?

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  8. Anonymous9/16/2011

    wHAT ABOUT ALL THE POLICE WHO LOST AND MISPLACED THE CASE FILES. wHAT ABOUT THE STATES ATTORNEYS THAT SAW NOW WRONG. WHAT ABOUT STATES ATTORNEY DEVINE WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO OVERSEE HIS OFFICE. DO YOU REALLY WONDER WHY SHE IS DRAGGING HER FEET? sHE IS COVERING FOR ALL OF THEM.

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  9. Yes there needs to be a special prosecutor. This is Cook County we are talking about and Alvarez is as CORRUPT as the rest of them.

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  10. Anonymous9/17/2011

    i for one would like to see the victims mom place a violation of civil rights against the big dick venenko and then go after the cops for violation under color of law,this can be done in federal court.

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  11. Anonymous9/17/2011

    "how do you get justice in this town" take the law into your own hands! tick tock tick tock......

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  12. Anonymous9/18/2011

    Alvarez should also be investigated for covering this killing up.

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