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Former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge will continue receiving his pension despite being convicted of lying about alleged torture of criminal suspects, the police pension board ruled today.
Four of the eight board members voted to allow Burge to keep his pension of $3,039.03 per month, saying his conviction was not directly related to his job as a police officer. Five votes were needed to eliminate Burge's pension.
Under the state pension code, police officers convicted of a felony "relating to or arising out of or in connection with" their service as an officer are not eligible to collect their pensions.
Burge was long suspected of torturing men into false confessions and was fired from the Police Department in 1993 over the alleged torture of convicted cop killer Andrew Wilson. He began collecting his pension about four years later, when he turned 50.
However, Burge was never charged with torturing or abusing anyone. An investigation by a special Cook County prosecutor concluded in 2006 that Burge and his officers obtained dozens of confessions through torture but that the statute of limitations had long passed.
But in 2008, the U.S. attorney's office brought perjury and obstruction charges against Burge for denying the abuse in a 2003 civil lawsuit. A federal jury convicted him in June of lying under oath about the abuse.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow sentenced Burge on Friday to 4½ years in prison in the perjury case, saying she did not believe Burge when he denied any knowledge of torture during his trial last summer.
Burge, 63, is scheduled to begin his sentence March 16.
Board narrowly rules Burge can keep pension - chicagotribune.com
We have this same problem in Ohio. A public official who is convicted of malfeasance in office is permitted to keep his pension. I think it's abhorrent -- we should be suing to recover the salaries we paid these people. Private pensions usually have "bad boy" provisions -- why don't public pensions?
What say you?