Alton Logan (center) listens as his attorney Jon Loevy (not pictured) speaks at a press conference this afternoon on the lawsuit they filed against the City of Chicago and former police Cmdr. Jon Burge. (Heather Charles / Chicago Tribune)
A man who spent 26 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit sued the city and former police commander Jon Burge in federal court today, claiming Burge knowingly suppressed evidence that would have proven his innocence.
“No amount of money can bring back the time [lost],” Alton Logan said at an afternoon press conference. “I just want justice.”
His lawyer, Jon Loevy, said that Burge bragged to another officer, Thomas Bennett, that he knew Logan didn’t murder a security guard at a South Side McDonald’s in 1982, the crime for which he was convicted. Bennett, who later became a criminal defense attorney, testified of Burge’s confession to him in a 2000 affidavit.
“Mr. Burge bragged that he knew [Logan] didn’t do it and he knew who did do it,” Loevy said at the press conference. “He basically didn’t care.”
Loevy did not specify a damage amount in the suit but said in other similar cases juries have awarded about $1 million for each year of wrongful imprisonment.
Logan, 56, was released from prison last April and later exonerated when lawyers for another man, convicted cop-killer Andrew Wilson, revealed Wilson had earlier confessed to killing the security guard as well. They didn’t come forward with the information until after Wilson’s death due to attorney-client confidentiality.
— Dan Simmons
