In a puzzling move, the Illinois State Police recently decided not to review the David Koschman homicide case, rejecting requests from Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. What a shame. What an embarrassment.
Although many details around the case are yet unclear, what is obvious is that Mayor Richard J. Daley's nephew Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko was involved in the 21-year-old Mount Prospect man's death.
Police have at least indicated that it was Vanecko who threw a punch that hit Koschman in the face outside a Rush Street bar and sent him on a fatal fall that resulted in brain damage and killed him 11 days later. However, no one was ever charged for any crime connected to what the Cook County Medical Examiner called a homicide.
The case was closed in 2004, the same year the incident occurred. The case was opened again earlier this year, but then closed again... still, heavily shrouded in doubt. Conflicting witness accounts and questionable handling of the case by the Chicago Police Department are signs for some that CPD detectives involved did not do all they could do to make sure justice was served. And now it's looking like CPD isn't the only law enforcement agency avoiding the case.
The Chicago Sun-Times' Michael Sneed asks this question in a recent column: Is Alvarez, State Police playing hot potato with Koschman case?
I think there might be a little hot potato going on as Sneed speculates. Read the article linked to above for an interesting look into the idea.
To end this on a positive note — while it's discouraging that the state police won't review this case, at least Chicago's inspector general is said to have an independent review on slate.
To end this on a positive note — while it's discouraging that the state police won't review this case, at least Chicago's inspector general is said to have an independent review on slate.
The Chicago Sun-Times has done an awesome job of staying on top of this story. The articles listed below are essential to understanding what is, and what isn't going on in the Koschman case.
No comments:
Post a Comment