Police torture victim Clements seeks state intervention in case

From the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Chicago Chapter:

April 17

Attorneys for Mark Clements, who has been imprisoned since 1981 when he was 16 years old, moved today for the appointment of Special State's Attorney Stuart A. Nudelman to represent the State's position in Clements post conviction proceeding, The motion was filed before Cook County Criminal Courts Chief Judge Paul Biebel, who last week appointed Nudelman, a retired judge, to take over the state's cases in instances of alleged torture of defendants by detectives working under now retired Commander Jon Burge.

The motion will be heard and may be argued before Judge Biebel at 9:00 am Tuesday in Courtroom 101 at 26th and California.

In their motion Attorneys for Clements state that the appointment is necessary because "Detective Daniel McWeeny, who Clements alleges participated directly in eliciting Clements' false confession through psychological and physical abuse, and who has been the subject of numerous similar claims of systematic coercion, was subsequently employed by the Cook County State's Attorney as an investigator for over a decade, until 2007."

The attorneys note, "McWeeny's integral role in the systematic torture that occurred throughout the 1980s and 1990s in Area 2 and Area 3 Chicago Police Headquarters exacerbates the potential conflict" which should prohibit the State's Attorney from defending this case. "McWeeny not only worked for the [Cook County State's Attorney's Office (CCSAO)] while Clements' post-conviction case was being litigated but McWeeny also worked for the CCSAO when this Court held that Devine's potential conflict extended to the entire CCSAO."

Clements was arrested and beaten until he confessed to an arson murder in which four people died in 1981. He was 16 years old and could not read or write. There was no material evidence linking Clements to the crime, and investigators have now learned who the actual perpetrators were.

For an updated fact sheet on the frame-up of Mark Clements and the case, please go to http://www.naarpr.org/node/4