Michael Tillman Suing Chicago Over Alleged Police Torture

Chicago - A man allegedly tortured by former Chicago Police Cmdr. John Burge filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the City of Chicago and several police officers after serving 23 years in prison for a murder and rape he did not commit.

Michael Tillman claims Burge and Sgt. John Byrne “sadistically tortured him for several days” until he confessed to a crime he did not commit, then spent more than 23 years in prison after being charged with murder, rape and kidnapping, according to a suit filed in U.S. District Court.

Tillman was accused of murdering Betty Howard, whose body was found July 21, 1986, in a vacant apartment in the building where the two lived, according to the suit. She suffered a gunshot wound to the head and a stab wound to the heart.

The suit said Tillman and his girlfriend, Princess Williams, voluntarily went to Calumet Area headquarters July 21, 1986, to answer questions about their whereabouts the previous days, and were beaten and tortured by detectives.

Tillman claims Calumet Area detectives Ronald Boffo, Jack Hines and Peter Dignan handcuffed him to a wall, put a gun to his head, struck him on the head and back, kicked him in the leg, punched him in the stomach so hard he vomited, poured 7-Up into his nose, placed a plastic bag over his head and waived flames from a cigarette lighter under his arm.

Steven Bell voluntarily went in for questioning the same day and was also tortured by police, including detectives John Yucaitis and Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Timothy Frenzer, and eventually agreed to make false statements to implicate himself and Tillman, according to the suit.

The suit said Ronald Wise and Tracy Harrison were arrested Aug. 9, 1986, after being stopped in Howard’s missing vehicle and found with a knife. A day later, police found Howard’s property at the home of Clarence Trotter and he admitted taking part in the crime, but did not identify Tillman or Bell as participants, according to the suit.

Tillman was sentenced to life in prison in 1986. Trotter was sentenced to life in 1988. Bell was acquitted. On Jan. 14, Tillman was released from custody and granted a new trial, according to the suit. He was found innocent Feb. 19.

“I’m glad that justice finally prevailed. It feels good. I have to take it one day at a time, just like jail,” Tillman said after his release. “I want to get to know my family better,” the 43-year-old father of two said.

The suit claims Tillman suffered emotional, physical and psychological damage, as well as constant fear and anxiety, depression, despair, rage, boredom and loneliness from the torture and 23 years in prison.

The 11-count suit claims, among other things, deprivation of a fair trail, wrongful conviction, false arrest and imprisonment, torture and physical abuse, and seeks unspecified monetary judgment from the city, Cook County, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, Mayor Daley, Burge, Byrne, Dignan, Boffo, Hines and Frenzer. Yucaitis is deceased.

The suit also names former Detective George Patton, former police Supts. Leroy Martin and Tery Hillard, former OPS Director Gayle Shines and former aide to the superintendent Thomas Needham as defendants.

A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Law was not immediately available for comment.