Koschman Report Out Today
- Special prosecutor Dan K. Webb will release a 162-page report Tuesday morning that’s expected to shed light on whether clout kept police and prosecutors from charging Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley, with killing David Koschman.
Webb’s report was filed under seal five months ago as Vanecko, 39, was awaiting trial for involuntary manslaughter.
Vanecko pleaded guilty Friday, admitting he punched Koschman in the face during a drunken confrontation outside the late-night bars along Division Street on April 25, 2004, leading to Koschman’s death 11 days later.
Cook County Circuit Judge Michael P. Toomin — who directed Webb to produce a report on the investigation when he appointed him special prosecutor in April 2012 — signed an order Monday to make the report public now that Vanecko’s case is over.
Like it or not, it's news. And it's going to generate a lot of comments, ill-will and finger pointing.
Labels: scandals
posted by SCC at 12:04 AM
81 Comments:
Should be interesting reading. Let me see, you think there was any political pressure put out there?
Nah, not in Chicago with a Daley relative involved. Convenient how he's in the hospital right now.
I am sure the report is going to be a real zinger.
The conspiracy theorist in me thinks there may be something in this report putting uncle Richie on the hot seat, and his recent "medical emergency" is going to leave him with permanent memory loss and he won't remember a thing (this is not a new concept for the man though). After all, it is Chicago, and nothing in Chicago politics is surprising.
Seriously though, I hope the doctors at NMH do everything in their power to save him. I want him to be healthy when the federal indictments come down.
Now we know why the ex-mayor is hiding out in Northwestern Hospital.
The truth is the truth.
Let the chips fall where they may.
The mere thought of the report's release was enough to put the garden gnome in the hospital.
I assume this report was given to Breen and the state's attorney a long time ago, which means daley has seen it.
Former Mayor Richard Daley is hospitalized with "Hillary Clinton" syndrome. The killer Vanecko took a plea. The report must throw some serious light.
My question is: Why was it sealed until today? WE paid for this report! Why were these cockroaches allowed to scurry under the cabinets before the information came out? Don't tell me the Daley family didn't already get a peek.
Check the Blackberry's.
Hats off to Judge Toomin for being a honest jurist -- something of a rarity in this State. I could envision dozens of judges who would have buried, stonewalled or whitewashed this heater case.
"it's going to generate a lot of comments, ill-will and finger pointing."
And I suspect that a lot of it will be deserved, too.
Maybe phat Phil will finally get indicted
We need a report to see if there was clout involved? Maybe we can get a report about whether bears shit in the woods.
Who is the kids uncle again?
Oh yeah William Daly. POTUS right hand man. This is going to screw the cops and no one else. The Nurenberg defense will not work here.... i.e I was following orders... yet there are no orders written down. Just... hey take care of this.
Didn't Webb work for Daley?
Chicago invented clout and clout made. Those wise guys at 35th? Better believe it, they are clout made. Sooner you accept this tragedy better it is in understanding why we are screwed. FBI nor the CCSSO will ever dare touch Daley. Fact, those close or connected to Obama will not be touched. 1st and the 16th.
Cline made sure it would go away.
Hard to speculate at this point, but from media rumors the report will criticize Alvarez and the police department. If this is so, heads should roll, people should be prosecuted if possible or sued in civil court.Anyone who has been around the department during the Daley years can speak to political influence in just about everything that went on. They thought they were untouchable, and, frankly, they were.Here is a giant poke in the eye to every superintendent that Daley appointed for their lack of moral courage.
I doubt that anyone (except the Daley clan) is going to enjoy what they read.
This is going to be a sleaze read. We'll be embarrassed that our City is so disgusting when it comes to protesting certain people. Since if the shoe was on the other foot, you know this would have played out very differently.
Wow, the victim's picture makes him look about 15.
RIP David Koschman, wonder how many heads will roll after this is released? Non clouted will be in some type of created bs.
Next Dave Savini court hearing no cameras allowed from the moron that sticks a camera in everyone's face hypocrite #1
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/naperville_lisle/chi-savini-case-could-be-resolved-tuesday-20140203,0,3841392.story
most of the clouted cops are long gone
Set your DVRs and VCRs to Channel 11 at 7:00 pm for Chicago Tonight. Carol Marin doing a report on Kochman. She did a great job on this. She also broke the SOS shit. Some will say she's a liberal and I say "So what? She's exposing shit nobody else will"
I heard reads... silly silly silly.
Sadly, the report will probably show that nobody in the Police Dept or from Alvarez's office wanted to the person who put a member of Daley's inner family in jail. Everyone was paralyzed by the fear of incurring Mayor Daley's rath and nobody, in all honesty, wanted to put his or her career on the line by pushing this case hard. Was it the right thing to do? In hindsight, the answer is probably no. But hindsight is always 20/20 and I wonder if the same fact pattern emerged today if anyone in the CPD or States Attorney's Office could honestly say that they would put their career on the line and "do the right thing" or try and sweep it under the rug and avoid incurring the Mayor's ire. It's easy to second guess when it's not your future in the CPD or States Attorney's Office that is on the line.
"The special prosecutor, Dan Webb, interviewed Daley, eight of his relatives and numerous others as part of a grand jury investigation..."
Key word "INTERVIEWED"...
As in NOT UNDER OATH?
Oh, I get it now...
Labels: Bullshit!
Seriously though, I hope the doctors at NMH do everything in their power to save him. I want him to be healthy when the federal indictments come down.
****************
guess you missed the part a few weeks ago when they said no further arrests are going to be made related to this case.. so no, daley or anyone else wont have to worry about indictments. Now go crawl back into your hole and keep hoping and praying that bad things will happen to people.. mush.
fuck daley and his chronies..fucken back stabbing bitches
Richie in hospital just when nephew pleads and report is due out. Remember when his dear Maggies wheelchair picture made the front page ...so he could get all mad at the press, just when the report on the parking meter/skyway billions lost was coming out..I think there is a pattern here.
At this point in time, what does it matter! Hillary Clinton
162 pages, it ought to be a thrill a minute page turner. The kind you have to read till it's finished, and can't put down.
(a Lawyer)
The sounds of a broom and a carpet being put back down is deafening
Wow after watching the report on CLTV news the police and the ASA office fucked up. But they are saying Daley did nothing wrong. Unbelievable. Shame on those police bosses for having those detectives do that and shame on Dick Devine and those ASA's. As far as discipline is concerned, this isn't over. They want the feds brought in.
Poor Richie will surely have a stroke after seeing this report!!!!!!!!!
Just get daley that's the ticket.
The lawyers who handled this OSP investigation could not even get their heads around the fact that the Police are lied to on a daily basis, and that they do not charge these "liars" with obstruction of justice. In their report, the OSP lawyers talk about this like they have never heard of it before, because the feds can charge you for lying to them, and we simply cannot. They also have no idea how deep the agenda of the CCSAO runs, and how they summarily reject cases, then lay it back on the Detectives.
This was a loser case from the beginning, and if you read the footnotes, and if you have more than 2 years on the job, it should jump right off the pages. A giant waste of time and money, unless you're the Sun Times or Carol Marin, who needed this case to stay in the limelight.
Anonymous said...
The conspiracy theorist in me thinks there may be something in this report putting uncle Richie on the hot seat, and his recent "medical emergency" is going to leave him with permanent memory loss and he won't remember a thing (this is not a new concept for the man though). After all, it is Chicago, and nothing in Chicago politics is surprising.
Seriously though, I hope the doctors at NMH do everything in their power to save him. I want him to be healthy when the federal indictments come down.
I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. If memory serves, RJ's daddy is a doc at NMH. That said, I think Shortshanks the puppeteer can continue to pull the strings however he sees fit.
After all, it is Chicago, and nothing in Chicago politics is surprising.
. . . or coincidental
Suntimes seems to have it right. The prosecutor weighed charges against several CPD members, including Andrews, the A/3 commander, and Lt. Walsh. A variety of people pleaded the fifth, and not sure yet which ones are or were current law enforcement.
In a proper society, a member of law enforcement who pleads the fifth in questioning in connection with their job responsibilities would be immediately terminated. Unfortunately, if I recall correctly, Cline (Superintendent in 2004)was one of those who should have been terminated long ago for this kind of bullshit.
Surprised a bit Webb didn't raise that, or whether internal CPD policies or procedures were not followed, or if there were proper investigations for each failure to follow policies and procedures, and whether anyone was disciplined for the large numbers of policies and procedures not followed.
That report makes it clear as day to me that Webb and his team knew who among the exempts and merit promotees was responsible for all the questions that were ultimately asked. Just not enough evidence to charge.
Disgusting, the lack of accountability on the part of the A/3 Dets is infuriating. This was a Homicide that was treated the same way a Parking Ticket used to.
Previous post about former mayor:: Just a thought, but every time he gets called into court or a hearing - he falls back on the excuse that he does not remember the circumstances.... That won't keep working unless he starts building up a medical record which documents some type of memory loss... Just a thought.
2/02/2014 09:32:00 PM
Apparently the majority of the cpd members mentioned in Dan Webbs report have the same illness of memory loss.
Seriously... nothing? This was a huge let down.
Fusco and Flint Taylor say it is all the CPD's fault. Why does Fusco hate the police so much? Doesn't this guy realize his prejudice comes through loud and clear. As for Fling Taylor, he is just looking for a lawsuit that the city will settle out of court.
Pretty disgusting really.
Not only was there a cover up there was privilege.
Not only did one nephew not get arrested for killing a man in 2004, the other nephew, Robert, goes to the police pension board and gets $15 million in 2006 (DV URBAN realty).
News saying there was no evidence of anyone in the Daley family or in CPD trying to influence the case.
Really?
Anonymous said...
Now we know why the ex-mayor is hiding out in Northwestern Hospital.
2/04/2014 03:43:00 AM
Maybe DaMayo gots da same thang that JJJ had.
Bi-polar, etc.
In Shortshanks' case I'd believe it.
Early on , Bridget McCarthy and friends should have been charged for obstructing the investigation (of course now, she was given immunity).
In the media, the detectives are being blamed. But it in her desire to protect Vanecko she stone walled the investigation.
Shortshanks was cornfused like JJR was. Why is he in ICU. Does media ask diagnosis? Be hospitalized in ICU till mid week then released. HUH??? Shanks don't want to face media. Lil prick
I read the report - and it does not reflect well on either the Chicago Police Department or the Cook County States Attorney. A lot of incompetence and sloppiness. Immediately after the incident, before Vanecko’s involvement was known, the case is given (different interpretations of what that means) to two detectives who are leaving on vacation the next day. So it sits until Koschman dies.
When Detective Yawger takes over and finds out that Vanecko is involved, he wants to have him charged - not for justice but to get the case away from CPD and into the judicial system. Quote from his grand jury testimony in 2012 -
“I just wanted — it’s not a good thing to say, but I just wanted to kick the can down the road. I mean, why would we [CPD] make this decision? I wanted out of this case. I wanted to get it over with. I figured just charge the guy and go to preliminary hearing, and it would have been thrown out . . . And then we’re done with it, it’s on somebody else’s hands, which is not the right thing to do.”
Back in 2004, it was known that Bridget and Kevin McCarthy had been lying to the cops. Why were they not charged with obstruction of justice back then?
When the investigation is reopened in 2011, the new detectives invent a self-defense argument for Vanecko - one he did not claim for himself.
And then there is the matter of disappearing and reappearing files at both CPD and SAO.
And David Koschman was no angel in all of this. Based on his actions, Vanecko could have had a self defense claim.
All in all - what a mess.
I have a feeling that it will reveal that no clout was involved.
King Richie KNEW! Did nothing!
Daley quickly knew nephew involved, Webb says
(thought he was 'an officer of the court'?? /s)
Let the lawsuits begin Koschman family. Sue that sawed-off runt bast--d for every penny he has for his involvement in the >>> COVER-UP. <<<
Anonymous Anonymous said...
RIP David Koschman, wonder how many heads will roll after this is released? Non clouted will be in some type of created bs.
Next Dave Savini court hearing no cameras allowed from the moron that sticks a camera in everyone's face hypocrite #1
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/naperville_lisle/chi-savini-case-could-be-resolved-tuesday-20140203,0,3841392.story
2/04/2014 08:46:00 AM
Savini plead guilty and got nearly as severe a sentence as Vanecko got.
Everyone was trying to please The King.
And David Koschman was no angel in all of this. Based on his actions, Vanecko could have had a self defense claim.
2/04/2014 03:34:00 PM
I disagree:
1) Vanecko was older, stronger, twice in weight, and taller.
2) If it was self defense, why did Vanecko flee (via cab) to another bar? Why not wait for police?
3) Why not contact the police in the coming hours, days, weeks?
Instead, the McCarthy's lied to save Vanecko's hide.
This is what happens when u "help" or cover for somebody. In the end, u get fucked. Detective Yawger is implicated or portrayed in this report as not having done his job properly. While Daley, Cline, down the line, Knew nothing like the sgt in Hogan's Heros.
Daley best feature or "attribute" is to "play stupid". It only works for him. If we, the police, tried it-we would be fired or in jail.
Never has a man in history played stupid for so long and gotten away with it.
There you have it people- The police and the ASA are the scapegoats. Everybody else in this story goes unnoticed.
You don't hear the press blaming the mayor, the supt, the lying witnesses that did everything to get the murderer Vanecko off the hook, NO- the police are to blame!
This is simpler than any long winded report. Daley didn't have to order or influence anything. Nothing was on record. It's just understood in any department in Chicago especially the police. You never fuck with a Daley. You play ball. Period! Everyone knew it especially the brass. A lowley detective or ASA would never put a case on a Daley. If they even tried just a little bit many eyes would be on them. It just would never happen. It's a Daley. That says it all.
Cuthbert J. Twillie said...
King Richie KNEW! Did nothing!
Daley quickly knew nephew involved, Webb says
(thought he was 'an officer of the court'?? /s)
I must have missed the part of the report that said Daley, Exempts and SAO knew Vanecko did it before Bridget McCarthy told Yawger. If that were true, that would be explosive. But it's not.
A persons chosen profession does not mean you automatically forfeit constitutional protection afforded to each and every American.
Read the constitution someday
Webb had a history of prosecuting cops throughout his career- “Marquette 10” and also put away Capt. Clarence E. Braasch for 6 years. So, it doesn't surprise me that he eventually puts the blame on -who else?- the police dept.
The fix was not only in, it STILL is in!. Vanecko is demanding a McHenry jail and he will get it!
Blame the lowest on the totem pole, that's what this $1.12 million report concludes.
Just let Burge take another hit, he's become a professional fall guy.
Anonymous said...
News saying there was no evidence of anyone in the Daley family or in CPD trying to influence the case.
Really?
2/04/2014 02:59:00 PM
Hard to find any evidence.
When a Daley relative is involved, I'm sure it is implied, not said. Why was he even notified by the police?
Daley, his entire family, and most of his friends are just plain, scum. Driving past Maggie Daley (Carmella Soprano)park today, I noticed Walsh construction hard at work. But there is no money for our pensions. Rahm is just as scummy.
so how do i go about to complain about this?
there are hookers on my street. usually 2-3 sometimes 5 waiting at the bus stops. and they are obviously hookers. they get picked up by random schumks and truck drivers.
i call the cops but they never do anything about it.
Anonymous said...
News saying there was no evidence of anyone in the Daley family or in CPD trying to influence the case.
Really?
2/04/2014 02:59:00 PM
No evidence, does not mean it did not happen. If you read the report the department and the mayors office knew about the involvement within hours.
This was a loser case from the beginning, and if you read the footnotes, and if you have more than 2 years on the job, it should jump right off the pages. A giant waste of time and money, unless you're the Sun Times or Carol Marin, who needed this case to stay in the limelight.
2/04/2014 12:40:00 PM
Yes, it did stay in the light and it resulted in a plea to a felony. A waste of time? You must be one of the detectives that worked on the case or a friend of the daley family.
"When the investigation is reopened in 2011, the new detectives invent a self-defense argument for Vanecko - one he did not claim for himself."
3:34PM
Correction- self defense was based on the evidence, primarily the witness statements, and does not need a statement from the offender. E.g., person fearing he/she is about to be the victim of a battery can defend themselves. That is why cases of mutual combatants are never charged.
Big deal. Just because dic richi said bla bla that's the truth? Anyone who believes that crap must be a Democrat or a dumb ass. So go on believing all the lies, the cliffs are only a few yards in front of you shitago, Illinois, and fine sheep of this state. Look! It's a five pound block of cheese in the mail! Yummy!
You all instantly jump on some hardworking detectives based on the Suntimes and a report written by a law firm that was paid $25 million to shift this away from the lawyers and politicans and onto the police.
The case should have never been charged. If Vanecho went to trial he would have certainly beat this case, so they offered him an absolute gift of 60 days to make this horseshit case go away. Vanecho took it and saved himself about $300k in attorney's fees by avoiding trial. Then, they write a report saying what a great job they did and how the police purposefully fucked this up from the very beginning even though the mayor and his cronies were on their best behavior.
If we had an army of lawyers, our own grand jury, and $25 million, then we could probably solve every murder. I have news for all our "police brothers" out there who watch murder investigations on their DVD when they're supposed to be on patrol, we don't have those resources. All we have is a shitload of cases, a bunch of witnesses who don't cooperate, and an SAO who doesn't like to charge.
Yet, you all read this Webb a report like its gospel. Well, explain this.
Webb basically says that Lt Walsh should be charged for losing/finding the file, even though there is absolutely no evidence he did anything wrong. On the other hand, Darren OBrien threw away an official SAO file and Webb ends the report by saying no one at the SAO did anything wrong.
But, after all, we are a Brotherhood aren't we? Ha! Just put one of us in an unflattering newspaper article and watch our "brothers" pile on.
Anonymous said...
"When the investigation is reopened in 2011, the new detectives invent a self-defense argument for Vanecko - one he did not claim for himself."
3:34PM
Correction- self defense was based on the evidence, primarily the witness statements, and does not need a statement from the offender. E.g., person fearing he/she is about to be the victim of a battery can defend themselves. That is why cases of mutual combatants are never charged.
Never charged? According to who? The merit promotee's and their outfit bosses? The dicks, and I use the term lightly, never interviewed the offender before settling on "mutual combatants" as Vanecko's defense. In a homicide I would only accept "mutual combatants" from felony review as a reason to close a case by CCX, and then reluctantly and quite possibly over my protestation. This was the fix. And now you know why Area Five bosses are Area Five bosses.
I disagree:
1) Vanecko was older, stronger, twice in weight, and taller.
2) If it was self defense, why did Vanecko flee (via cab) to another bar? Why not wait for police?
3) Why not contact the police in the coming hours, days, weeks?
Instead, the McCarthy's lied to save Vanecko's hide.
2/04/2014 06:31:00 PM
None of these three reasons have any basis in law. My guess is this is not the police because even a pop should know this.
Interesting footnote from Webb Report (page 125) that shows that Masters Masters Masters was s stool pigeon for Daley:
Additionally, according to Biggane, e-mails like her January 18, 2011, e-mail to Kawada and
others (MAYOR_OFFICE000464) were sent to the Mayor’s Office every day. Biggane, Maureen, Kroll
Interview Rep. at 4-5 (Mar. 14, 2013). It was the “policy” under Masters to make the Mayor’s Office
aware of anything that might lead to questions from the press. Biggane, Maureen, Kroll Interview Rep. at
4-5 (Mar. 14, 2013). It was not unusual for the Mayor’s Office to be involved in FOIA response
discussions if the request might result in press attention. Hoyle, Jennifer, Kroll Interview Rep. at 3 (Jan.
18, 2013). In this instance, Biggane did not think it was inappropriate for CPD to be discussing the
Koschman reinvestigation with the Mayor’s Office because it was “protocol,” and because she was not
giving them “any details.” Biggane, Maureen, Kroll Interview Rep. at 7 (Mar. 14, 2013).
guess you missed the part a few weeks ago when they said no further arrests are going to be made related to this case.. so no, daley or anyone else wont have to worry about indictments. Now go crawl back into your hole and keep hoping and praying that bad things will happen to people.. mush.
No, mush...hoping Daley is healthy when the corruption indictments come down for all the dirty shit he did over his 21yr reign. Stupid fuck.
Watched Chicago Tonight on channel 11. Blame the police as usual. I called that one after the incident. What's wrong with detectives wanting to put the case before a judge? Isn't that what's supposed to happen? None of this crap would have happened if RJ manned up and stuck around. It would have all been over a short time after and he still would have had $20,000.00 of our pension money.
Retired
The detectives chosen to work this case (once vanecko was realized) were absolutely hand picked as the best detectives. But many of us know that they were the best detectives known to the supervisors as detectives who will go along with whatever the supervisors want.
Granted there truly was an awful lot of moronic and sloppy police work conducted by the investigative bureau, as well as by the ASA office. However, once Dan Webb got involved, everyone had to cover up what was truly done on purpose thruout the investigation by continually using the memory loss defense or the stupidity defense or the blame someone beneath me defense.
Meaning, all of the CPD and ASA mentioned in this report made themselves look even stupider to Dan Webb on purpose. They had to. They could not tell the truth or else the headline today might have been different. Sadly, this whole investigation is transparent to many of us.
Just one more comment. My favorite statement was made by ASA Obrien - he had the felony review file for this homicide on his desk for years and then one day he thinks he threw it out because he figured it was old.
Re: The citizen calling 911 for the prostitutes at bus stops. You can either call tstation's CAPS Office or call the stations Tac. Office. If not, you can try calling the vice squad.
None of these three reasons have any basis in law. My guess is this is not the police because even a pop should know this.
2/04/2014 10:27:00 PM
What law school did u go to? Now go sell some real estate.
Wonder if Webb's firm will get any city contracts
Can't prostitutes take the bus?
Now, kees me you fool!!!!
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