CHICAGO COP CONVICTED OF16 COUNTS OF AGGRAVATED BATTERY ….. ONE FOR EACH BULLET THATT STRUCK LAQUAN MCDONALD

Judge Again Postpones Ruling on Fate of Officers in Alleged Cover-Up

By Megan Crepeau

Chicago Tribune
January 4, 2019

CHICAGO — A Cook County judge has again delayed her decision on the fate of three current or former Chicago cops on trial on charges they filed false reports to exaggerate the threat posed by Laquan McDonald on the night he was fatally shot by Officer Jason Van Dyke.

Associate Judge Domenica Stephenson said in court Thursday she will rule on the hot-button case Jan. 17, two days later than the deadline she last set. She did not give an explanation for the rescheduling.

The judge also postponed her decision until Jan. 17 on a request by local media outlets for access to trial exhibits, a ruling she was expected to make Thursday.

This marks the second time that Stephenson has postponed her ruling on the officers’ fate. She was initially set to rule Dec. 19, but she then rescheduled until Jan. 15 without explanation.

Former Detective David March, ex-patrolman Joseph Walsh and Officer Thomas Gaffney face charges they conspired to cover up the circumstances of McDonald’s 2014 shooting and shield Van Dyke from scrutiny.

Van Dyke stood trial separately in the fall and was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery — one for each bullet that struck McDonald. He was the first Chicago police officer in half a century to be convicted of murder for an on-duty incident.

He is slated for sentencing Jan. 18, the day after Stephenson’s scheduled ruling in the conspiracy case.

March, Walsh and Gaffney stood trial last year in what is believed to be Cook County’s first criminal case stemming from the so-called police code of silence. Each is charged with official misconduct, obstructing justice and conspiracy.

Over five days of trial, the officers’ attorneys argued that any discrepancies in the paperwork could be chalked up to innocent mistakes or differences of opinion.

Special prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes charged March, Walsh and Gaffney in June 2017, more than 18 months after the court-ordered release of a police dashboard camera video of McDonald’s shooting sparked citywide protests and the ouster of several high-ranking public officials.

March was the lead detective in the shooting investigation, Walsh was Van Dyke’s partner that night and Gaffney was among the first officers to encounter McDonald that night.

The now-infamous dashcam video — released by court order more than a year after McDonald’s October 2014 shooting — showed the white officer opening fire within seconds of exiting his squad car as the black teen walked away from police with a knife in his hand. The footage contradicted reports from officers at the scene that McDonald had threatened officers with the weapon.