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American Morning

Interview With Man Accusing Chicago Police of Torture to Obtain Confessions

Aired July 01, 2003 - 09:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron Patterson claims Chicago police tortured him into a murder confession. He is one of four Illinois death row inmates pardoned last January by outgoing Governor George Ryan. He spent 17 years behind bars. Now he is suing for $30 million charging police and the state's attorney systematically covered up the torture.
The state's attorney, Richard Divine (ph) says, quote, "Aaron Patterson has been making these same unfounded allegations ever since his conviction in the brutal murders of this elderly couple. But no court of law in the intervening years ever found them sufficient to free him before the ex-governor took his unprecedented actions earlier this year."

Aaron Patterson and his lawyer, G. Flint Taylor, join us now from our Chicago bureau. Gentlemen, thanks for being with us this morning.

(CROSSTALK)

SAN MIGUEL: Mr. Patterson, the police were looking for whoever killed Vincent and Raphaela Sanchez (ph) in their south Chicago home in 1986 and you claim that you were tortured in an effort to get a confession. What happened in that situation? What was the torture?

AARON PATTERSON, FRM. DEATH ROW INMATE: I don't want to go into detail (UNINTELLIGIBLE). You have to talk to my lawyer about that since we have a pending lawsuit.

But basically, I was tortured in police (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for 25 hours on a usual type of inquisition-style torture that was used in the Dark Ages. And I don't know why they did it really. You know, I thought they was trying to solve a case, but it seemed like they had other motives for doing what they did.

And I (UNINTELLIGIBLE) lawyer (UNINTELLIGIBLE) torture they (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and other means.

SAN MIGUEL: Well can I ask you how is it you can to be in their custody in the first place? Why do you think police targeted you in the first place.

PATTERSON: Well, I had a ongoing conflict with police in that area, several confrontations over the last few years before arrested. And I guess I seemed to be the ideal -- prime candidate to be framed for a case like this. SAN MIGUEL: Mr. Taylor, this is going to be a difficult case to prove. Not just the fact 17 years have gone by, you know, but aren't you going to need other witnesses? Right now you've got Aaron Patterson and you've got the police involved.

G. FLINT TAYLOR, PATTERSON'S ATTORNEY: Well as Aaron said, he was tortured in Medieval ways. Had a plastic bag placed over his head and was suffocated. He was punched in the stomach. There's a notorious commander here named John Berge (ph) who led a torture ring for over 20 years. And there are many witnesses to his torture.

So it's not just Aaron Patterson's word against John Berge and the police, it's a long line of people from 1972 to 1989 who were tortured by John Berge, not only with bags put over their head, had guns put in their head, they've been electric shock with devices. It basically is the kind of torture you'd expect to hear from some place like South Africa before the liberation from apartheid, or some of the Central American countries. But we had it right here in Chicago. We have now 90 documented cases of police torture over that 20-year period.

So not only does Aaron Patterson have his own testimony -- and he also, by the way, during his torture, found a way to find a paper clip and scratched in the bench, in the very room he was being tortured in, the fact that he was being tortured, that he was being suffocated with a bag over his head, that he was being beaten and gave a false confession.

SAN MIGUEL: Let me stop you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a second and get you to respond to what the state's attorney office has said. They're promising to vigorously defend their prosecutors against these allegations and, you know, that these allegations have been made since 1986, since the conviction. But no court of law in the intervening years would take them out or ever found them sufficient to free him until Governor Ryan, ex-Governor Ryan did the pardons. You're thoughts on that?

TAYLOR: Well, my thoughts on that are there's now an independent investigation here. And they're not only looking into what Berge did, but they're looking into what the prosecutor's office did under Divine and under Richard Bailey before that, because you couldn't really have this kind of systematic torture in police stations and using that evidence if the state's attorneys didn't know. So that's number one.

Mr. Divine's office is being sued for a reason. He's being sued because he and his predecessors were involved in covering up this. So you have to take that for what it is.

Secondly, Mr. Patterson wasn't able to prove his innocence because all of this evidence was covered up and not let into court. When, in fact, we uncovered this evidence of torture and presented it to the Illinois supreme court, they ordered that he have a new hearing. When Governor Ryan looked at all of this evidence and independently examined it, he, too, determined that Mr. Patterson was innocent and he freed him. If Mr. Patterson was not freed by the governor, he would have been freed in all likelihood by the courts, because he was about to have a hearing into the tortures. So I think it's totally unfair and biased and suspect what Mr. Divine and his office is saying, and you have to look at that in that light.

SAN MIGUEL: We should mention that the special prosecutor named to investigate that torture allegations in this case and others is promising to have those findings out by the end of the year.

We have to leave it there. Aaron Patterson and G. Flint Taylor, thanks so much for your time. We do appreciate it.

TAYLOR: You're welcome.

PATTERSON: All right. Power to the people.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Obtain Confessions>


Aired July 1, 2003 - 09:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron Patterson claims Chicago police tortured him into a murder confession. He is one of four Illinois death row inmates pardoned last January by outgoing Governor George Ryan. He spent 17 years behind bars. Now he is suing for $30 million charging police and the state's attorney systematically covered up the torture.
The state's attorney, Richard Divine (ph) says, quote, "Aaron Patterson has been making these same unfounded allegations ever since his conviction in the brutal murders of this elderly couple. But no court of law in the intervening years ever found them sufficient to free him before the ex-governor took his unprecedented actions earlier this year."

Aaron Patterson and his lawyer, G. Flint Taylor, join us now from our Chicago bureau. Gentlemen, thanks for being with us this morning.

(CROSSTALK)

SAN MIGUEL: Mr. Patterson, the police were looking for whoever killed Vincent and Raphaela Sanchez (ph) in their south Chicago home in 1986 and you claim that you were tortured in an effort to get a confession. What happened in that situation? What was the torture?

AARON PATTERSON, FRM. DEATH ROW INMATE: I don't want to go into detail (UNINTELLIGIBLE). You have to talk to my lawyer about that since we have a pending lawsuit.

But basically, I was tortured in police (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for 25 hours on a usual type of inquisition-style torture that was used in the Dark Ages. And I don't know why they did it really. You know, I thought they was trying to solve a case, but it seemed like they had other motives for doing what they did.

And I (UNINTELLIGIBLE) lawyer (UNINTELLIGIBLE) torture they (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and other means.

SAN MIGUEL: Well can I ask you how is it you can to be in their custody in the first place? Why do you think police targeted you in the first place.

PATTERSON: Well, I had a ongoing conflict with police in that area, several confrontations over the last few years before arrested. And I guess I seemed to be the ideal -- prime candidate to be framed for a case like this. SAN MIGUEL: Mr. Taylor, this is going to be a difficult case to prove. Not just the fact 17 years have gone by, you know, but aren't you going to need other witnesses? Right now you've got Aaron Patterson and you've got the police involved.

G. FLINT TAYLOR, PATTERSON'S ATTORNEY: Well as Aaron said, he was tortured in Medieval ways. Had a plastic bag placed over his head and was suffocated. He was punched in the stomach. There's a notorious commander here named John Berge (ph) who led a torture ring for over 20 years. And there are many witnesses to his torture.

So it's not just Aaron Patterson's word against John Berge and the police, it's a long line of people from 1972 to 1989 who were tortured by John Berge, not only with bags put over their head, had guns put in their head, they've been electric shock with devices. It basically is the kind of torture you'd expect to hear from some place like South Africa before the liberation from apartheid, or some of the Central American countries. But we had it right here in Chicago. We have now 90 documented cases of police torture over that 20-year period.

So not only does Aaron Patterson have his own testimony -- and he also, by the way, during his torture, found a way to find a paper clip and scratched in the bench, in the very room he was being tortured in, the fact that he was being tortured, that he was being suffocated with a bag over his head, that he was being beaten and gave a false confession.

SAN MIGUEL: Let me stop you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a second and get you to respond to what the state's attorney office has said. They're promising to vigorously defend their prosecutors against these allegations and, you know, that these allegations have been made since 1986, since the conviction. But no court of law in the intervening years would take them out or ever found them sufficient to free him until Governor Ryan, ex-Governor Ryan did the pardons. You're thoughts on that?

TAYLOR: Well, my thoughts on that are there's now an independent investigation here. And they're not only looking into what Berge did, but they're looking into what the prosecutor's office did under Divine and under Richard Bailey before that, because you couldn't really have this kind of systematic torture in police stations and using that evidence if the state's attorneys didn't know. So that's number one.

Mr. Divine's office is being sued for a reason. He's being sued because he and his predecessors were involved in covering up this. So you have to take that for what it is.

Secondly, Mr. Patterson wasn't able to prove his innocence because all of this evidence was covered up and not let into court. When, in fact, we uncovered this evidence of torture and presented it to the Illinois supreme court, they ordered that he have a new hearing. When Governor Ryan looked at all of this evidence and independently examined it, he, too, determined that Mr. Patterson was innocent and he freed him. If Mr. Patterson was not freed by the governor, he would have been freed in all likelihood by the courts, because he was about to have a hearing into the tortures. So I think it's totally unfair and biased and suspect what Mr. Divine and his office is saying, and you have to look at that in that light.

SAN MIGUEL: We should mention that the special prosecutor named to investigate that torture allegations in this case and others is promising to have those findings out by the end of the year.

We have to leave it there. Aaron Patterson and G. Flint Taylor, thanks so much for your time. We do appreciate it.

TAYLOR: You're welcome.

PATTERSON: All right. Power to the people.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Obtain Confessions>