Special Prosecutor will be named.

The mothers son.

This ruling shows that nobody can kill someone without being made to answer for it. Not even in Chicago.
A special prosecutor will re-examine the April 2004 death of David Koschman, who died of brain injuries after being punched in the face by Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, a nephew of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley, a judge ruled Friday, declaring: “The system has failed David Koschman.”

Cook County Circuit Judge Michael Toomin had harsh words for the way the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office handled the poltically charged investigation.

Of their claim that Vanecko punched Koschman only in self-defense, the judge said, “This was a defense conjured up by police and prosecutors”

The judge also took note of what he termed the “missing files syndrome” on the part of both the police and prosecutors.

And Toomin noted that there are sworn statements from witnesses that contradict police reports.

But the judge said he doesn’t think that, as Koschman family lawyers asserted, Alvarez has a conflict of interest because of her ties to the Daley family.

Vanecko’s lawyer, Marc Martin, declined to comment on the ruling.

After announcing his ruling, Toomin said a 33-page written ruling would follow.

Koschman’s mother, Nanci Koschman, and two other relatives had argued that an outside prosecutor is needed because one of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s prosecutors determined there wasn’t enough evidence to charge anyone in 2004 and because Alvarez has been a political ally of Vanecko’s uncle.

Koschman, 21, of Mount Prospect, died on May 6, 2004, 11 days after being punched in the face in a drunken confrontation with Vanecko on Division Street near Dearborn Street.

A Chicago Sun-Times investigation last year prompted the Chicago Police Department to re-examine the case. The police concluded Vanecko acted in self-defense.

The Sun-Times has reported the police found “missing” files last summer, including a handwritten note that read “V DAILEY SISTER SON.”

In sworn statements given to investigators for the city of Chicago’s inspector general, witnesses have disputed the statements the police attributed to them about what happened on the night of the confrontation.

The inspector general’s office began investigating the police in response to the Sun-Times reports. Its investigation remains open.