Issues & Case Updates

The “NATO 3,” Brian Jacob Church, Jared Chase and Brent Betterly appeared once again in Cook County Criminal Court today. The three activists were arrested in a midnight raid in the Bridgeport neighborhood in the days leading up to the NATO Summit. All three have since pled not guilty to the terrorism related charges they are currently facing. Defense attorneys

THE BILL FOR PINSTRIPE PATRONAGE CHICAGO STYLE: $82.5 MILLION SINCE 2003 (Revised and updated on July 12, 2012) For more than 40 years, the City of Chicago has paid top dollar to private lawyers to represent the City and its police officers in the most notorious civil rights cases of assassination, torture, brutality, and wrongful arrest and convictions by Chicago

“NATO 3” Plead Not Guilty on All Counts Brian Jacob Church, Jared Chase and Brent Betterly, three activists arrested in a midnight raid in the days leading up to the NATO Summit, appeared today in Cook County Criminal Court. The activists are facing trump-up terrorism related charges that defense attorneys suspect stem from a set-up concocted by government infiltrators and

In 1982, then Cook County State’s Attorney Richard M. Daley and his first assistant, Richard Devine were specifically informed by Police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek that Andrew Wilson had been tortured at Area 2 police headquarters by Jon Burge. Daley and Devine rejected Brezeczek’s request to investigate, and Daley chose instead to publicly commend Burge rather than to prosecute him. As

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has named June as Torture Awareness Month, with a focus on “confronting the culture of torture” in the United States. As part of that campaign, we recognize a significant step in the struggle against torture that occurred June 28, 2010, two years ago today. On that day, here in Chicago, former Chicago Police Commander

Review of The People’s Lawyer: The Center for Constitutional Rights and the Fight for Social Justice, from Civil Rights to Guantanamo, by Albert Ruben By Brad Thomson, legal worker at People’s Law Office The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is a renowned organization that has been a pioneer in the progressive legal community since the Civil Rights era. Following September

Flint Taylor, founding partner of People’s Law Office has written an editorial which appeared in the Sunday edition of the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday. In the editorial, he describes the legacy of the Chicago Police torture scandal and the fact that there has never been a sincere apology from the City of Chicago for the injustices that have occurred. Below is

On behalf of the International Committee of the National Lawyers Guild, People’s Law Office attorney Jan Susler is presenting at the United Nations Decolonization Committee Hearings on Puerto Rico. The presentation addresses the fundamental colonial relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico, police brutality and the continued incarceration of Oscar Lopez Rivera and other Puerto Rican political prisoners. Download

Last fall, activists and journalists associated with Occupy Chicago founded Occupied Chicago Tribune, a newspaper to share stories and commentary about the Occupy movement and social issues addressed by the movement. The name of the paper was clearly a reference to the Chicago Tribune and chosen to distinguish itself from the Chicago Tribune and other corporate-owned media. Occupied Chicago Tribune

People’s Law Office Obtains “Very Substantial Settlement” in 60 year old torture and Wrongful Conviction Case On June 13, 2012, People’s Law Office lawyers Flint Taylor and John Stainthorp, with the able assistance of pro bono lawyer Peter McCabe of Winston and Strawn, obtained a substantial settlement for 80 year old Oscar Walden who was tortured by Chicago Police and