Trial Underway For Police Torture Dating From 1951
CHICAGO (WBBM/CBS) -- An unusual police torture case is underway this week at the Dirksen Federal Building.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Bernie Tafoya reports, it involves a rape that occurred nearly 60 years ago, and the man who spent almost 14 years in prison for it.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Bernie Tafoya reports
Podcast
Oscar Walden Jr., 79, is suing the City of Chicago, claiming police tortured him into admitting to a crime he did not commit. He was convicted of raping a woman on Nov. 24, 1951, on the city's South Side, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Walden is black, and the Tribune reports he claims white police officers kicked, hit and insulted him, and even threatened to, "Get the ropes," or lynch him.
Walden was released from prison in 1965, after serving almost 14 years.
He was later one of many men pardoned by former Gov. George Ryan, the Tribune reported.
One of the factors that makes the case so difficult is that the rape victim, and all seven police officers who allegedly tortured Walden, have died.
A city attorney says just because Walden is the only one around to tell the story does not mean his version is true.
In a federal courtroom Tuesday, Walden showed scars that he said came from a police officer bending his hand back. But the city claims the scars came from the assault victim biting him in self-defense, the Tribune reported.
Former U.S. District Judge George Leighton, 98, testified on Walden's behalf. While working as an attorney in private practice, he handle a post-conviction filing for Walden in 1957, the Tribune reported.
