It won’t be easy to lock up Jason Van Dyke and ‘throw away’ key, it seems

It seems like not all that long ago that a Cook County jury returned the verdict that turned one-time Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke into a convicted killer, albeit one of the second degree.

VAN DYKE: A legal break? Or justice!?

Remember the elation that some people made a point of showing that day, marching through the streets of downtown Chicago to literally make it clear they were ecstatic at the thought that a white cop was off to prison.

IN THEIR WILDEST fantasies for something close to a life prison term. Something that would show what an outrage it was that he thought he could claim self-defense and “just doing his job” to justify the multiple gunshots he fired at a teenage boy – one who happened to be black.

Some went so far as to claim it was evidence that “justice” had been served against a “killer cop.”

While others, I’m sure, sat and stewed at the very thought that a police officer was being punished for doing his job – which on occasion requires use of physical force.

That was then. This is now!

FOR THE SUPREME Court of Illinois came down with a ruling Tuesday that I’m sure will infuriate the masses who were marching in the streets last year.

Basically, they backed up the way that Judge Vincent Gaughan handled the sentencing. Which basically was to give him a light prison term on the second-degree murder conviction, while ignoring all the aggravated battery charges that the jury piled on to their decision.

Those charges, all 16 – one for each pistol shot Van Dyke fired at his youthful assailant, were the ones that were supposed to add up to so much prison time that we’d literally have Van Dyke agonizing at the thought of decade upon decade in prison before finally dying.

Except, perhaps, for those ghoulish types whose idea of humor would be to have Van Dyke use a bed sheet to hang himself in his cell.

THAT DOESN’T SEEM in the cards.

For the Supreme Court rejected a request by the Illinois Attorney General’s office to reject the just-over-six-year prison term that Gaughan handed down.

They wanted the almighty Supreme Court to force Gaughan to resentence him in a way that would be more in keeping for those who want to see Van Dyke killed like a killer cop. Which now just ain’t a gonna happen!

The reality is that while I’m sure there are still legal motions that could be attempted on the off-hopes that a law clerk might be swayed enough to tell his judge to consider the merits of such an appeal, the point is they’re going to be long-shots.

WE MAY HAVE to accept the fact that the legal merits of the Van Dyke case are resolved. Now it’s just a matter of Van Dyke “doing” his time – which with time off for good behavior will come to about three years. He’s going to have something resembling a life left after he is released.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that the separation will turn out to be too much for the Van Dyke family – which may well be permanently fractured. That is something we will have to wait and see for ourselves.

I’m also sure that Van Dyke, now being held in a prison facility in upstate New York himself will think he’s suffering amply – his case is so notorious there isn’t a prison facility in Illinois capable of holding him without constant repeats of that beating incident while in a cell in Danbury, Ct., got national notoriety.

While others, I’m sure, will forevermore claim his fate is still better than the one Laquan McDonald suffered – an eternal rest in death at a Forest Park cemetery. A suburb whose residents likely would have freaked out and called for the cops if the teenager had ever set foot there while alive.

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Have times changed to shift support away from R. Kelly’s alleged penchant for being too close to young girls?

I’m eager to see how the whole saga related to R&B singer R. Kelly plays out – will his celebrity status continue to make people think he’s somehow above the law and shouldn’t be punished?

Or has his time finally run out? Will he wind up facing legal consequences as a result of the criminal indictments he was hit with Friday – as a result of allegations that Kelly (who is 52) has a thing for girls aged roughly 16.

THE CHARGES OF aggravated criminal sexual assault for which he was hit were for incidents involving four females – three of whom were 16 or younger. His initial appearance in Cook County Circuit Court for a bond hearing is set for Saturday.

Now the reason I’m not yet convinced that anything significant will become of all this is because this isn’t even the first time Kelly has faced criminal charges related to his conduct with young girls.

It was back in 2008 when prosecutors pushed for charges, and he wound up going on trial for claims that his use of video cameras to record his activities amounted to child pornography.

He was acquitted for all those charges, and there were people back then who were more than willing to believe speculation that Kelly was being persecuted. Similar to the 2005 trial of “King of Pop” Michael Jackson – who was found not guilty of criminal charges claiming he had a “thing” for young boys.

THERE WERE PEOPLE more than willing to see their prosecution as petty acts by petty prosecutors who couldn’t handle the thought of a black person being successful.

It was true that during Kelly’s last criminal trial, the case ultimately fell apart when the girls who supposedly were molested were unwilling to confirm that anything improper was done to them.

So what will happen as this case works its way through the legal process?

There are some who think that activists with a focus on abuse against women will manage to prevail. We’ll see his behavior as so tacky that we’ll eagerly hope he gets found guilty of each count against him – with prison terms piled up consecutively.

THERE ARE THOSE who already are speculating on a 70-year prison term for R. Kelly – with just the slightest touch of disgust that probation is also an option.

Not that I’m counting on such an outcome occurring yet. Let’s not forget the recently-completed criminal trial of former Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke. Remember the people who speculated on a pileup of sentences that could result it a 90-year-plus prison sentence?

And just what was it that Van Dyke ultimately got as punishment for the incident involving a 17-year-old being shot to death? A judge who figured out a way to give him a prison sentence that – when time off for good behavior is factored in – will come to just over three years served in prison somewhere.

There are those who think Van Dyke should suffer more. Will there be a outburst of anger from people eager to see Kelly suffer?

IT MOST DEFINITELY won’t be the same people. I suspect the kind of people anxious to see Van Dyke suffer will be the ones most likely to think that Kelly is somehow being persecuted.

It’s ultimately going to be a matter of how many people still have sympathetic memories of watching “Space Jam,” whose theme song “I Believe I Can Fly” was performed by Kelly. To the point where they can’t believe anybody connected through the film to basketball star Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny himself could do anything immoral.

The fact is that some people do have the ability to overlook fact, thinking of them as the sordid details that distract from truth – or at least truth as they want to view it.

We’ll have to wait and see just how much we’re willing to take a serious look at what has occurred here.

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News report hedline a ‘fantasy come true’ for some twisted souls amongst us

I know I’ve written a few commentaries published here indicating how some will only be satisfied with the ongoing saga of Jason Van Dyke when there are reports about how he was killed in some sort of prison inmate brawl.

A most-definitely un-romantic Valentime's hedline

To that end, Thursday must have been a very sad day – what with the Chicago Sun-Times giving us the front page hedline “Van Dyke Beaten in Lockup.”

THE ATTACK SUPPOSEDLY took place on Van Dyke’s first day at the federal correctional center in Danbury, Ct. – within just a few hours of him being placed in a cell amongst the prison’s general population.

No word on the exact nature of the attack. As in was it a batch of black inmates who wanted to beat the stuffing out of the cracker, or white inmates who wanted a shot or two at beating on a cop?

Or maybe it was a bizarre mixture, as in Van Dyke is the factor that can unite the various factions of societal slugs who are amongst the prison populace.

To me, the sad part of this story is that I can easily envision way too many people amongst us back here in Chicago taking some sort of pleasure out of the Sun-Times hedline – which also is turning up in news organizations across the nation on account of the Associated Press doing their rewrite to spread the word.

IT’S ALMOST LIKE on a certain level, we want to let the thugs amongst us make our correctional centers are hellish a place as they can possibly be. Is it our way of giving the one-time bullies of our school yards something to aspire to?

As in they can be stupid and go to prison and have the run of the roost once they get there?

For what it’s worth, Van Dyke’s wife did her part Thursday morning to spread the story by making herself available for television cameras – where she was quick to denounce prison officials for not keeping her husband in strict segregation from other inmates.

Van Dyke's new 'humble abode,' for the time being

Which has the potential to backfire. Are we going to get a significant share of the public eager to believe that Van Dyke got what he deserved, and probably warrants much other constant abuse for the next few years – or until the Illinois Supreme Court gets around to ruling on a measure by the state Attorney General’s office

That could result in Judge Vincent Gaughan being forced to impose a harsher prison sentence than half of six years, nine months.

OF COURSE, THERE are the people who envision Van Dyke having to do another 30 or 40 years in prison until he finally dies. Which strikes me as a depressing line of thought for people to have – if they must be obsessed with Van Dyke’s life, their own must be incredibly lacking.

It’s not like I’m overly sympathetic to the plight of Van Dyke. But I do find it contemptible the degree to which some are going to find joy in his agony. Which invariably is going to motivate those amongst us willing to excuse the misbehavior of law enforcement into thinking their guy is the ultimate victim.

Although it should be noted that Van Dyke’s being placed on the East Coast, albeit in a minimum-security facility.

Illinois Corrections Department officials made the arrangements to have Van Dyke do his time elsewhere largely because they figured his very presence in a local prison facility would lead to exactly the kind of incident that occurred in Danbury.

EVEN DURING THE time that Van Dyke did at the Rock Island County Jail awaiting sentencing, he was kept in segregation away from other inmates.

So it will be interesting to see exactly how the one-time Chicago cop manages to cope with the next few years, and if officials outside of Illinois are willing to take any precautions to protect inmate safety in this case.

I know I’ve heard various prison professionals say there’s only so much that can be done to protect the inmates, and that ultimately the inmates need to be entrusted to behave themselves.

But I suspect we’re going to keep getting similar stories about Van Dyke’s plight in prison, and a certain segment of us are going to take far too much pleasure from reading them.

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The issue that won’t die; Van Dyke fate

Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke may now be a convicted felon sentenced to serve a few years in prison (although Illinois Corrections Department officials still won’t say exactly which one) for the death of a teenager – but the racially-tinged shooting incident won’t wither away.

VAN DYKE: Case lingers on

For it seems that both the special prosecutor who oversaw the criminal case AND the Illinois attorney general’s office are considering legal maneuvers that could try to force a new prison sentence to be imposed.

SOMETHING, PERHAPS, CLOSER to the 18 to 20 years that prosecutors sought from Judge Vincent Gaughan, rather than the 6-year, 9-month sentence (of which he’s already done 3 months in the Rock Island County jail) that could see him released in a little over three years time.

Van Dyke was found guilty last autumn on a charge of murder in the second degree (implying there was some mitigating factor that could sort of justify the killing) and multiple counts of aggravated battery.

Literally one count for each of the 16 shots that Van Dyke was found to have fired at Laquan McDonald. Which theoretically could have resulted in prison time for each shot and could have added up to something close to 100 years of time,

In my own (admittedly non-law school educated) mind, that combination of charges never made sense. They conflicted with each other, and the real question to me about the sentencing that took place last week was how would Gaughan manage to reconcile the mismatch.

McDONALD: Means more in death than life

HE WOUND UP doing so by basing the sentence for Van Dyke off the second-degree murder charge and ignoring all those additional charges that could have brought about the lengthy, life-like prison term that the activist types eager to see imposed on a white cop for killing a black male who hadn’t even reached the age of maturity back on that October 2014 night that he was shot to death because he was acting erratically (his mind was messed up on illicit drugs that night) while walking around the neighborhood near a Burger King franchise.

It seems the legal minds wishing to appease those activists are wondering if the Illinois Supreme Court could issue a mandamus order – which essentially would say Gaughan screwed up and emphasized the wrong criminal charge.

Which could result in a resentencing with results more satisfactory to those people who back in autumn marched through the streets of downtown Chicago in celebration of the fact that a “cracker cop” got what he deserved by being found guilty.

RAOUL: Will he take on appeal?

We’ll have to see if Joseph McMahon (the special prosecutor brought in from suburban Kane County) or newly-elected state Attorney General Kwame Raoul wants to take on this issue – or is willing to accept the prison time that Van Dyke already must serve.

SOME WILL SAY that Van Dyke is now a former cop with a criminal record – which pretty much ruins him for any type of life he had hoped to live. They’re likely to think that prolonging this legal argument only stirs up more resentment amongst the city’s populace.

Although others will think the resentment lingers for as long as Van Dyke gets a penalty less severe than their imaginations have concocted.

This may be the real harm of the racist policies that were considered legitimate in our society in the past – they’ve created so much anger that it’s almost like we’re going to need white people to suffer unjustly in order to balance things out.

Which would only serve to ensure these racial tensions linger amongst us for decades to come – particularly fed on by nitwits in support of the Age of Trump we now live in who may well want to think that the only victim in this whole affair is Van Dyke himself!

OF COURSE, THERE will be others eager to keep the memory of this incident alive. Consider that newly-elected state Rep. Anne Stava-Murray, D-Naperville, is enhancing her reputation as someone eager to draw attention to herself by ticking off the sensibilities of political people around her.

STAVA-MURRAY: Wants McDonald Act

Stava-Murray introduced as her first bill ever a measure creating the Laquan McDonald Act. A measure applying only to Chicago and creating procedures by which we could have recall elections for mayor and alderman in Chicago and state’s attorney in Cook County.

It really does come across as an attention-grabber from the freshman legislator who already has indicated she’s not seeking re-election in 2020 – and instead will challenge Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., for his post on Capitol Hill. It certainly isn’t about necessary changes to the law – the electorate dumped Anita Alvarez as state’s attorney back in 2016 and Rahm Emanuel didn’t even try to seek re-election, largely because of public disgust over what happened to Laquan.

As though we’re supposed to forever remember Laquan, and not think of that silly clown and his mediocre hamburgers every time we hear the phrase “McDonald” in the future.

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Everybody upset w/ Van Dyke verdict

I suspect there was a moment, however brief, of joy when Judge Vincent Gaughan said “81 …,” giving people the impression that a former Chicago cop convicted of the shooting death of a 17-year-old black teen was about to put the 40-year-old cop away to rot in prison for life.

VAN DYKE: Nearly 7 years

But then, Gaughan continued with “… months,” not years.

AS IN GAUGHAN decided that his prison term will only last a period of just under seven years – of which he’s already served three months in the county jail out in Rock Island, Ill.

Considering that the family of Laquan McDonald came out and said Friday that they thought a prison term of at least 20 years was essential for Van Dyke to be properly punished.

And, in fact, prosecutors themselves made a recommendation of an 18- to 20-year prison term for Van Dyke.

But Gaughan ultimately chose to concoct a prison term based off the fact that Van Dyke was found guilty of a second-degree murder charge, and not to factor in all those additional counts of aggravated battery with a firearm – which in theory could have made for a prison term of nearly 100 years possible.

“A JOKE AND a slap in the face,” along with a slew of obscenities, was the reaction of McDonald’s family to the prison sentence after the sentence was handed down following a day-long sentencing hearing that occurred Friday.

McDONALD: Gone nearly as long as Van Dyke

But Gaughan made a point of saying he figured “100 percent” of people were going to be offended by his sentence. I don’t doubt that, because Van Dyke’s family made emotional pleas saying they have already suffered severely by the loss of Jason to incarceration for any length of time.

As it was, they argued that a sentence of probation would have been appropriate. Which I don’t doubt was an idea of great offense to the McDonald family. As it was, Laquan’s uncle read a letter into the record on Friday that was written as though it was crafted by McDonald himself.

Telling us that he was trying to make something of his life, give up his drug addictions, and that Van Dyke, by firing the 16 shots into his body, deprived him of that opportunity.

GAUGHAN: Upset 100 percent of people

THERE IS ONE thing that has to be conceded – it could have gone much worse for Van Dyke. He’ll be about 46 years old when he is released from prison. In short, he has a chance to put together a “rest of his life.” Even though I don’t doubt he’ll view the next six or so years as the most hellish experience he’ll ever have to endure.

It’s not going to be a pretty experience for a law enforcement officer. But some people see this whole Van Dyke ordeal as being about making police suffer.

If anything, they’re even more upset by the ruling earlier this week that three police officers facing criminal charges for filing false reports about what it was Van Dyke did to McDonald were NOT guilty.

There are those who wanted Van Dyke to rot in prison, and see a complete crackdown on the Chicago Police Department. Anything short of that is going to cause them to feel nothing but contempt for our legal system.

THEN AGAIN, THERE probably is nothing that would please those individuals. Some people get way too hung up on the concept of retribution. Even though what we as a society ought to be trying to do is figure out the way to move beyond this incident.

McCARTHY: Would win be seen as police victory?

Because the reality of the whole affair is that there’s nothing that can be done to bring Laquan McDonald back to life. There’s nothing that will restore the type of life that Jason Van Dyke had, or will protect his family from the harm they’re suffering as a result of what happened on that October night of 2014.

Of course, there could be one coming blow in the near future that would further “rub it in” the very notion that law enforcement is protecting itself, and NOT the public. What happens if Garry McCarthy somehow wins the mayoral election of February and run-off of April?

For McCarthy was the police superintendent who lost his job because of Van Dyke’s actions. Would the people eager to protect the police image be strong enough to make him our city’s mayor?

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Just what constitutes Justice?

VAN DYKE: What will be left of life?

I can already hear the rants from people who fear that justice (or is that Justice! with a capital “J”) won’t be served in coming weeks.

The would-be defendants whom some are eager to see prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law (if not beyond the extend, with the mythical “book” being thrown at them) are none other than Alderman Edward M. Burke and former police officer Jason Van Dyke.

BURKE: Does he still have a political life?

VAN DYKE, OF course, is the white police officer who was found guilty last year of criminal offenses in the 2014 shooting death of a teenager who happens to be black.

While Burke is the long-time alderman named in a criminal complaint suggesting that he went too far in terms of shaking down a business that wants to remodel a Gage Park neighborhood Burger King franchise.

The very franchise, in fact, where Laquan McDonald, the black teenager, was shot nearby on that night in ’14 when he didn’t stop fast enough to satisfy Van Dyke’s concerns.

It seems that federal prosecutors would like to strengthen their criminal case against Burke by getting a grand jury to indict him on some sort of charge – perhaps something far more significant than he currently faces.

WHICH IS WHY attorneys were in court this week. In theory, prosecutors had until Friday – the next scheduled court date – before they would have to put up or shut up, so to say. Instead, an extension was granted. May 3 is now the significant date.

A fact that will anger those people so eager for a Burke criminal conviction that they dream of it being the factor that knocks him out of the running for the Feb. 26 municipal elections.

Legal notoriety? Or is all publicity good?

Even if the 14^th Ward aldermanic race stretches to an April 2 run-off (which is very likely), it means the elections will be over before we know exactly what will become of Burke on the criminal justice front. He could easily wind up being re-elected before actual charges are known.

It will complicate the desires of those who just want Ed Burke out of office – and really don’t care much about the specific details. It sort of makes it easier for Burke to focus on campaigning for re-election if actual criminal charges are theoretical.

AS FOR FRIDAY in court, it now means nothing for Burke. But for those eager to see criminal justice action that day, the focus will be solely on Van Dyke.

For he’s the one found guilty of second degree murder and multiple counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. Theoretically, he could get multiple sentences for each charge that could have a minimum of 96 years in prison.

A sentence that would appease those people eager to see a cop go to prison for what they will forevermore see as a racially-motivated slaying. But prosecutors admitted this week there is a way to interpret the sentencing guidelines so that Van Dyke could theoretically get 15 years of actual prison time.

At age 40 now, he’d be 55 upon release. Which would still allow him a chance to have some life left in freedom – even though it will be his aging years, as the rest of what’s left of his youth would be spent in prison somewhere.

IT WILL BE interesting to see how Judge Vincent Gaughan interprets the law in this case. I have no doubt everybody’s going to be outraged – from those who want Van Dyke to get some form of probation up to those who want him to get a lengthy, demoralizing prison term then want him to die at the hands of his fellow inmates.

GAUGHAN: Expected to impose sentence Friday

Which is a sick attitude to have, but it is one that becomes all too common amongst the general public. The very reason why we don’t let public sentiment play too much of a role in criminal cases.

Similar to those who would like to see Ed Burke get hauled off to the pokey, so to speak, as punishment for all the ideologically-motivated acts he committed throughout his 50 years in the City Council.

Public sentiment all too often leads to rash acts that, in and of themselves, are an injustice.

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Cop-related killings become common? As are the accompanying racial rants!

We have yet to learn what kind of prison sentence will be imposed against the Chicago police officer who fired those 16 shots into a teenaged boy who may have been acting erratically enough to make the officer fear for his life.

The incident in suburban Robbins occurred … 

There also is the upcoming trials of three more police officers whom prosecutors say tried to spin the initial investigation so as to make it a clear-cut case of self-defense by law enforcement.

AND NOW, WE have the incident in suburban Robbins where a police officer responding to a call of shots fired at a tavern wound up killing the security guard who was on duty and was trying to subdue the man who had provoked the whole incident.

It’s becoming far too common that we’re having to question the motivations of our law enforcement officers – who theoretically are there to protect the public, but are behaving in ways that arouse racially-motivated suspicions.

As though the only “crime” that was committed in Robbins was that a tavern willing to stay open until 4 a.m. serving intoxicating beverages would have so little sense as to hire an African-American male to provide security.

Some activist types anxious to turn the “ROBBINS, Ill.” dateline into a focal point for their efforts are openly saying that white cop from nearby suburban Midlothian who was assisting would have been more understanding of the situation if it had been a white security guard trying to break up the incident.

THE SAD THING is that there may well be some truth to that line of logic. Although I also don’t doubt there will be other people who won’t want to have to listen to such arguments.

Heck, when the Washington Post earlier this week got into covering the incident that took place Sunday at Manny’s Blue Room lounge and led their story with the fact that a “white” cop killed a “black” security guard, there were ample examples of people who responded by accusing the post of irresponsibly bringing up race.

In this “Age of Trump” in which we now live, there may well be some people who don’t want to hear these types of stories. While others are going to demand they be told!

… on the heels of a trial over a police shooting in Chicago

Now in the interest of disclosure, I should point out I do some work for Tribune Publishing, and in fact was a reporter-type person on call Sunday morning when the incident broke out.

I WAS AT the tavern and at the police station in Robbins, and the conclusion I quickly came to was that the local police weren’t really sure what happened. There was confusion about who shot whom, or how many were shot or what provoked the incident in the first place. It took time before Cook County sheriff’s police (for the incident itself) and Illinois State Police (for the cop shooting a security guard portion) brought out details that made apparent just how absurd this incident was – and I have read follow-up news accounts written by others with great interest.

Even now, there are conflicting stories about how clearly the security guard was identified, and could it be possible for a police officer to seriously confuse him for just another guy with a gun at a scene that had seriously lapsed out of control.

There also are people who want to think the Illinois State Police are rushing their investigation so as to try to absolve the cop of criminal liability.

Which may be an after-effect over the officers who soon will be on trial for allegedly trying to reduce the chance that Jason Van Dyke would ever have to see the inside of a courtroom for the 2014 shooting death of a teenager.

ARE WE GOING to get the same kind of “conspiracy” suspicions against the state police? Is that attitude going to impede the ability of police to seriously get to the bottom of what happened?

Which municipality will find its police tainted next?

That would actually be the casualty for society as a whole if our investigators can’t be trusted to figure out what happened, and if the ideological suspicions of individuals were somehow allowed to predominate in determining how our judicial system will respond.

I’m sure on the date that Van Dyke is sentenced for his second-degree murder conviction, along with all those criminal accounts for each shot fired, we’re going to hear people screeching and screaming on all sides for how unfair the verdict will be.

Just as I’m sure there also are people who will be demanding that the as-of-yet unidentified Midlothian cop should someday become Van Dyke’s cellmate, and others who will be grossly offended if such a moment ever comes close to becoming reality.

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Where does line lie determining when/if police officer justified in using force?

Paul Bauer was a police commander who literally walked into an incident that put him in the line of sight of a man fleeing the Thompson Center state government building, with that man then pulling out a pistol and shooting Bauer dead.

'Hero' cop Bauer versus … 

While Jason Van Dyke is the patrol officer now rotting away in a jail cell in Rock Island County, awaiting sentencing on the criminal charges that say he committed murder of a teenager whom he tried claiming posed a physical threat to his life.

VAN DYKE TRIED to make much of the fact that the teenager whom he shot to death had earlier in the evening been kicked out of area fast food restaurants for his erratic behavior, had slashed the tire of a police squad car and may or may not have been waving about that knife with its three-inch blade in a menacing manner.

He would have liked it if the jury that decided his fate would have sympathized with his thoughts that he could easily have wound up in a situation similar to Bauer – who earlier this year happened to be near the state government building when he heard a radio report of a suspect, then saw that very same individual run past him.

A brief foot-chase ensued, followed by a struggle, with the suspect then firing seven shots at Bauer.

Now I realize Van Dyke’s incident occurred nearly four years ago, whereas Bauer’s incident was back in February of this year. It’s not like Van Dyke would have had a memory of what happened to the police commander – which was still just over three years off in the future.

BUT IT HAS me wondering about the legal fine line that exists for when a police officer is permitted to use deadly force on the job – based on the logic that he’s protecting the public safety by doing so!

There are those who argue that had Van Dyke waited a little longer, a colleague with a taser gun could have arrived at the scene, used that weapon to stun the teenager in that incident, and he could have been subdued still alive.

For all we know, he’d have been someone celebrating his 21^st birthday in prison, as a convict with a criminal record, instead of becoming a cause celebre who some will forevermore envision as an innocent-looking teenager in his bright-red graduate cap-and-gown.

… 'felon' Van Dyke -- how different are they?

Although I also suspect that many of the same people who have protested the teenager’s death would have protested just as loudly about what they’d want to view as merely another incident of police brutality.

JUST WHAT WAS the point that would need to have occurred before Van Dyke’s use of physical force would have been considered legal and justified.

Would the teenager have literally had to slash at the cop with his knife before a single shot could be justified from the Smith & Wesson 9 mm semi-automatic (the weapon that Van Dyke carried on the job)?

Would he have literally had to risk becoming the “hero cop” we now think of when Bauer’s name is mentioned? Would we have been willing to spare Van Dyke the public disgrace and humiliation he has endured if we literally had been able to hand his wife a medal for “giving his life” in the name of the people of Chicago?

Now I’m not trying to imply there was anything heroic about the way Van Dyke handled himself that night in 2014. If anything, his actions are more those of a man who gave in to his fear – with his over-reaction being something that he will now pay for with the next few years (if not several) spent in incarceration.

HE WAS TRYING to do a job, just as I’m sure Bauer all those months ago was trying to perform his own duties during his moment of truth that got his name etched in stone as a law enforcement tribute.

While Van Dyke awaits sentencing far from Cook County, out of the fear that inmates at our own county jail might have singled him out for abuse and brutality before he could ever have been sentenced to prison time for his crime. A fate that some may sickly believe is totally appropriate.

It’s a fine line that exists between use of force for protection and for abuse – one made all the more vague because the reality is we DO give law enforcement the authority to use force, and on occasion to kill.

Anybody who has a problem realizing that reality likely is just trying to support people who are just as much criminals as they proclaim Van Dyke to be.

  -30-

We’re getting a double-blow over just how split our society has become

Guilty, to the second degree

Perhaps it was all-too-appropriate that Friday in Chicago was a cloudy overcast day with a chill in the air and soggy sopping wet. In short, a miserable day that perfectly reflected the miserable events that reflect the social split that our society faces these days.

Friday was the day that a jury in Cook County came back with a guilty (of sorts) verdict against Jason Van Dyke – the Chicago police officer who faced criminal charges related to the shooting death four years ago of a teenager.

Will Kavanaugh receive the ultimate prize?

ALTHOUGH THERE ARE those who want to see the case of nothing more than a white man with legal authority using it to kill a young black man.

That is a case where the legal outcome is going to manage to offend just about everybody – and not just those people who live in Chicago. Some of us were all too eager to see a cop go down to defeat, while others will see anything that doesn’t coddle a cop as evidence of our society gone awry.

As if this isn’t enough to leave people p-o’ed, we’re going to get a similar response either Saturday or Sunday from Capitol Hill in Washington. At about the same time that a Cook County jury neared completion of its two days of deliberations Friday, the U.S. Senate took a procedural vote that narrowly (51 to 49) voted to advance the process for filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States.

The scene is now set for a final vote possibly Saturday (although I’ve heard reports of at least one senator being unable to attend that day because his daughter is scheduled to get married – and he’s not about to miss that big event!).

WHICH MEANS THE split at the federal level between people who think Brett Kavanaugh is unfit to serve on the nation’s high court and those who want to think he’s being attacked by (as they insist on viewing it) hysterical broads making stories up is going to get those same people all riled up.

Police conduct itself on trial in some minds

Things are looking more and more like the Senate WILL go ahead and confirm President Donald Trump’s appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court (which is a life-time political appointment).

There will be people who will feel that the legitimate concerns of women are being ignored because Republican officials are eager for a politically-partisan victory. Some of them may well be the same people who think there had to be a “guilty” verdict against Jason Van Dyke, or else a miscarriage of justice will have occurred.

PERSONALLY, I BRACED myself mentally some time ago for the concept that Van Dyke would NOT get whacked with “GUILTY!!!!” on every single criminal charge – which is an outcome some people think is the only appropriate one. Although the ruling of guilty of second-degree murder, combined with all those convictions of aggravated battery, could be seen as a way of appeasing all while satisfying none.

So while I know Van Dyke’s family has said they wouldn't be surprised if he’s found guilty of something because they feel like political people want that outcome to appease the public, I seriously expect people are going to be upset for a long, long time regardless of what happened Friday.

It may well be a double-whammy for some if the U.S. Senate gives Kavanaugh their support.

While I’m also sure there is a segment of society that will be totally pleased with such outcomes. We are, after all, living in the Age of Trump – in which a right-wing element wants to think they’re taking over again and erasing all the deluded, liberal attitudes they want to believe have corrupted us.

OF COURSE, WE could get the societal split, so to speak.

Does it all come down to Donald Trump?

What with Kavanaugh getting confirmation of his appointment, but Van Dyke getting some sort of verdict that turns him from a law enforcement officer to a convict, of sorts.

I’m sure the right-wing ideologues will have fantasies of their own, in which a right-leaning Supreme Court ultimately has an opportunity to rule on an appeal filed on Van Dyke’s behalf. Would an “Age of Trump” court be sympathetic?

And are the news happenings of this weekend leading into the Columbus Day holiday  (a holiday whose very existence offends some people) going to be the cause of countless protests – which were already up-and-running Friday even before a verdict was announced – that will take place for many years to come?

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EXTRA: Guilty, to the second degree!

A Cook County criminal court jury went with a "guilty" verdict Friday on a charge of murder to the second degree against Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, which is an offense that theoretically could result in a probation sentence.

Van Dyke at the 'moment' of truth, as viewed on CLTV. Photo by Gregory Tejeda

Yet they also returned "guilty" verdicts on all the counts (16) of aggravated battery for each gunshot fired by Van Dyke against teenager Laquan McDonald. Those are charges that include mandatory prison time for each shot fired that could pile up into a significant sentence (hundreds of years) in a state correctional institution.

SO WHAT SHOULD we think? Personally, I'm confused. Did the jury think they were giving him a break; while wielding a wrathful hammer instead? Some are already expressing disgust at what they think was an attempt to issue a compromise verdict, rather than a truthful one.

I'm sure people will continue to quibble over this outcome for years to come. After all, it was so significant that the live TV reporting on the verdict caused the game show "Jeopardy" to be pre-empted, amongst others. A fact that I'm sure peeved certain people even more than the verdict itself.

We'll hear again from the court on Oct. 31. Will it be "Trick or Treat" for Van Dyke? Let the protests begin!

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Will Van Dyke be bold enough to ‘take the stand’ to defend his conduct?

It’s a standard question going into a criminal trial – will the defendant testify in his own case.

Van Dyke is one of many thousands of criminal defendants to pass through this nearly-century-old building

There are those who think Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke desperately needs to give his perspective of the happenings of Oct. 20, 2014 – the night he killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

I STATE THAT as a fact beyond dispute; McDonald is dead and buried and not going to have the life his parents would have dreamed for him because of Van Dyke’s actions.

Which is why this entire trial is not about what Van Dyke did – but why!

Because we do give our police significant authority to use force, including deadly force, in the performance of their jobs. Which is why defense attorneys have tried to present the image of a McDonald who was strung out on drugs to the point where he was out of control.

Which made that knife he was waving about a very deadly weapon to anybody who happened to be near him.

IT’S CLEAR FROM the four days of testimony that prosecutors presented that they want us to think of this as an open-and-shut case. Van Dyke fired multiple gunshots into McDonald’s body and he died. So now, Van Dyke must go to prison.

But life is never that clear-cut, even though all of us want to believe life’s questions can all be answered with “yes” or “no.”

So when the Van Dyke defense begins its work come Monday at the Criminal Courts building, the big issue will be whether Van Dyke himself will take the stand and submit to questions about what he did that night in ’14.

VAN DYKE: Will he be able to clear his name?

Van Dyke has the legal right to refuse to say anything. He can’t be forced to take the stand and submit to questions. We require prosecutors to prove their own cases – and do not permit them to intimidate people into testifying against themselves.

IN FACT, MANY criminal cases do not result in a defendant taking the stand. I have seen countless trials in which a defendant does not put up any defense – with attorneys arguing that prosecutors so clearly failed to prove their case they don’t feel the need to say or do anything for the record.

And yes, it has worked, because the burden of proof is on prosecutors to show their case is legitimate. I’m sure Van Dyke would like to think he falls into that category.

But there are people who want to hear Van Dyke’s own words about that night. It’s almost as though they’re a group of “Ricky Ricardos,” telling Van Dyke’s “Lucy” to “splain” himself and what he was thinking when his reaction four years ago to encountering McDonald was to pull out his pistol and fire 16 shots into Laquan’s body.

But if he does that, he also opens himself up to questioning from prosecutors, who with their “yes” or “no” mentality will be more than willing to put pointed questions to him meant to make Van Dyke appear to be mean and vindictive.

IN FACT, I have seen criminal trials where prosecutors are so demanding of a “yes” or “no”-type answer that they refuse to allow the elaboration of detail usually required to get at the whole truth of a situation.

Despite the claims of legal officials that our judicial system is meant to elicit truth, my own experiences in covering courts throughout the years have led me to believe the reality is that prosecutors and defense attorneys are given the chance to present their own versions of what they want us to believe happened – then we leave it up to that mythical “jury of our peers” to decide which version we believe.

Will police reputation escape taint?

So does Van Dyke have enough faith in his memory of what happened that night that he’ll be willing to submit to prosecutorial questions meant to trip him up? Will his take on the events sway anyone who has spent the past four years developing their own impression of what they believe happened that night?

Or will it become more fodder for the cynics of our society that this trial – which is progressing much more quickly than I would have expected – was “rigged” from the beginning?

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EXTRA: Has the FOP made Burge & Van Dyke into the cop Odd Couple

It has been a full day since Fraternal Order of Police officials chose to make a spectacle out of the death of one-time Chicago Police Cmdr., and I’m still trying to figure out what they think they’ve accomplished.

Why would Jason Van Dyke want his name … 

Because if I were connected to the criminal defense of Jason Van Dyke, a police officer currently on trial for murder involving the shooting death of a teenage criminal suspect, the last thing I’d want anyone doing is bringing up the name of Burge in any sort of pairing.

YET THAT IS what was done on Wednesday, when FOP union officials showed up at the Criminal Courts Building (where they knew a slew of reporter-type people would be present to cover Van Dyke) and let it be known that Burge – who retired to Florida with his full police pension benefits – is dead. He was 70.

Dean Angelo, the one-time FOP president, said (amongst other things), “I don’t know that Jon Burge got a fair shake based on the years and years and years of service that he gave to the city.”

As though we’re supposed to think Burge was the ultimate victim because he wound up serving prison time for perjury committed while testifying in lawsuits filed due to his actions as a police officer.

He never was convicted for those acts, which consisted of countless incidents of brutality by he and the officers under his command. One could joke that Burge is just like Al Capone, the ‘20s era gangster whose tax evasion conviction seemed downright petty compared to the bloodshed that occurred in Chicago during his lifetime.

OF COURSE, IT was the people of Chicago who ultimately paid for Burge’s behavior. The city had to pay more than $100 million in legal settlements and reparations to those men who wound up doing prison time because of the confessions that Burge is said to have beaten out of them.

… tied to that of Jon Burge?

I’m sure Angelo wants to believe Burge was a decent cop who got criminalized by people who were “human vermin” themselves. Perhaps he thinks we’re on the verge of doing something similar to Van Dyke – whose offense was the repeated shooting of a teenager with a knife who could have become a threat to the public.

I’ll be the first to admit that Van Dyke may have a legitimate claim to self-defense in his case. That's what his ongoing trial is all about. Which is why I find it odd that anyone acting in his defense would want to bring up Burge.

Just hearing the name will bring up bad memories from Chicago’s past and create an association by guilt for Van Dyke. Something I’d think they’d want to avoid. Instead of putting our collective Burge memories into the city’s past.

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