Legacy of landmark police case remains uncertain on the eve of Jason Van Dyke’s release.
Cara Hendrickson, a former assistant to the Illinois attorney general who helped draft the parameters of the consent decree, said that despite the hard work of many stakeholders to overhaul the Police Department, the city has come up woefully short in establishing a modern system of police accountability, including early intervention programs to get support and training to officers in need and identify and discipline problem officers.
Exactly where Van Dyke has been serving his 81-month sentence has been shrouded in mystery, and prison officials have declined to comment on his release, citing an interstate agreement allowing other jurisdictions to house high-profile prisoners in secret. Van Dyke became the first Chicago police officer to be charged with murder for an on-duty shooting in half a century, and the fallout continued. A team of special prosecutors led by then-Kane County State’s Attorney Joseph McMahon was appointed to handle the Van Dyke case; then-State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez lost her primary bid to Kim Foxx, who ran on a platform heavily criticizing Alvarez’s handling of the McDonald shooting.
In recent weeks, a cadre of Black leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, have joined some members of McDonald’s extended family in calling on the U.S. Justice Department to bring federal civil rights charges against Van Dyke that could land him back in prison. McDonald’s great-uncle, the Rev. Marvin Hunter, said that while he believes Van Dyke’s sentence was legally improper, most of the family does not support the effort to bring Van Dyke up on new charges.
One witness called by the prosecution wept uncontrollably on the stand as he described in detail how Van Dyke allegedly brutalized him after a traffic stop in 2007. The man required two surgeries after Van Dyke threw him to the floor in the back seat of a squad car, he said, and he still had not regained full use of his arms.
Prosecutors had asked Gaughan for a sentence of 18 to 20 years on aggravated battery, which would have required Van Dyke to serve about 85% of the term. Van Dyke’s defense, by contrast, argued that he should be sentenced only on the second-degree murder, which carries a sentence of probation or four to 20 years in prison, with the possibility of day-for-day credit for good behavior.
“He was not just relieved, he was happy,” Herbert told reporters after the sentencing. “It’s the first time I’ve seen the guy — honestly since this whole ordeal started — where he was happy. He’s certainly not happy about going to jail. He’s certainly not happy about missing his family. But he’s happy about the prospect of life ahead of him.”
In early February, Van Dyke was moved to a federal detention center in Danbury, Connecticut, for unexplained reasons, his attorneys said. Shortly after he was processed at the medium-security facility and moved into the general population, several people attacked him in his cell. “Jason Van Dyke remains under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Department of Corrections, but is not in our custody,” the agency said in an emailed statement last week. “For safety and security purposes, the department does not discuss details concerning individuals who have transferred under the terms of the Interstate Corrections Compact Agreement.”
But not long afterward, McMahon and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who had just begun his first term, decided to bring the case directly to the state Supreme Court. The two dissenting judges both noted that Gaughan made his ruling relying on a dissenting opinion that stated the exact opposite of the majority, and the majority opinion is the law of the land.
Then-U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon took the unusual step of confirming the investigation in April 2015 — seven months before the release of the dashcam video that would force the hand of the Cook County state’s attorney’s office to move forward with charges against Van Dyke.
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