Koschman Report - No Clout

The lack of a cohesive take in the media shows everyone exactly how fucked up this case was from the word go.

First up, you have the Tribune with this headline and opening lede:

• Special prosecutor: Daley, family did not try to influence Koschman case
  
  
• Over the course of a 17-month investigation, after nearly 150 interviews and a review of more than 300,000 pages of records, special prosecutor Dan Webb found no evidence that former Mayor Richard Daley exerted political pressure to shield one of his relatives from criminal charges.

But then you have the Sun Times with this take:

• Daley quickly knew of nephew’s involvement
  
  
• Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley knew “shortly after the incident” that his nephew Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko had been involved in the drunken confrontation that led to David Koschman’s death, according to a report from Koschman special prosecutor Dan K. Webb Tuesday.
  
  Daley, higher-ups in his office and others in Daley’s Chicago Police Department were aware of Vanecko’s involvement even as Koschman lay dying in a hospital with a cracked skull and swelling brain, the Webb report revealed.

But no one could make the connection? Or no one wanted to see the connection? And no clout was involved, but everywhere you look, there are the Daley appointees making decisions, "adjusting" statements, imagining conclusions based on what was convenient rather than what was on paper.

The names of the coppers Webb considered indicting are bad enough. The footnotes and connections contained therein are downright shameful. Save for the convenience of the statute of limitations running out, there's plenty of crap contained in this report to paint a damning picture of the Department as incompetent, bungling, criminal and in the pockets of the connected.