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| Chicago Jury Acquits Three Officers in Beating Death of Prisoner |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/22/2002 |
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Just minutes after attorneys finished closing arguments, a judge cleared three Illinois officers on charges that they beat a prisoner to death. Judge Ronald Himel found Sgt. Patricia Pultz and sheriff deputies Lawrence Koscianski and William Spatz innocent in the death of the inmate. Prosecutors claimed he was beaten to death in a holding cell at the Bridgeview courthouse in May 2000 after he allegedly made an obscene remark to a female deputy. The trial was postponed in January when prosecutors asked Judge Paul Biebel Jr., presiding judge of the Cook County Criminal Court, to assign the case to another judge. But Biebel declined to do so, saying the state failed to prove Himel had lost his objectivity. Prosecutors cannot appeal a not-guilty verdict. Legal experts said the Justice Department could charge the defendants with violating the inmate's civil rights. The inmate's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the officers. The officers also face internal disciplinary action and probably will be fired for violating a department rule requiring that all incidents with prisoners be reported, said Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan. |
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