Burge to Face New Lawsuit From Wrongfully Convicted Man Who Faced Death

WHAT:

Three days after he was found guilty in connection with a torture ring he operated for two decades, former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge will be named in a lawsuit Thursday by Ronald Kitchen, a man who was tortured until he submitted a false murder confession.  

Kitchen spent 21 years behind bars, 13 of them on Death Row, for his wrongful conviction, until he was released him from prison last year and declared innocent of the charges. Kitchen will attend the news conference.

WHEN:

9:30 AM on Thursday, July 1, 2010

WHERE:

357 East Chicago Avenue, Rubloff Building, Room 887

Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University

WHO:

Ronald Kitchen, plaintiff

Locke Bowman, Legal Director, Roderick MacArthur Justice Center, Northwestern University School of Law

J. Samuel Tenenbaum, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law

Flint Taylor, People's Law Office

BACKGROUND:

Kitchen was charged with a 1987 quintuple murder after Burge, along with three detectives working under Burge's command and under the supervision of Burge's self-admitted right hand man, former Police Sergeant John Byrne, tortured him into making a false confession, and fabricated false evidence against him and his co-defendant, Marvin Reeves.

The Roderick MacArthur Justice Center is an independent, privately funded law firm, founded in 1985 by Roderick MacArthur.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Mike Truppa, (312) 286-5077 (cell)

Locke Bowman, 773-710-0158 (cell)