* Some background…

The Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC) was formed by the Illinois General Assembly in 2009 to investigate claims of torture by former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge or officers under his supervision. TIRC examines claims of tortured confessions and determines whether sufficient evidence of torture exists to merit judicial review. Convicts whom the Commission refers to court then receive a new hearing on whether their confessions were the product of torture and whether they deserve a new trial.

* The last paragraph in this excerpt of a recent Tribune story caught my eye…

A Cook County judge last year moved cases involving allegations of torture by a former Chicago police detective to Will County, because the detective was married to another sitting Cook County judge. […]

But in a surprise move nearly a year later, the special prosecutors assigned to cases connected to former CPD Detective Kriston Kato are taking aim at a 15-year-old statute enacted in the wake of allegations surrounding notorious ex-CPD Detective Jon Burge that created a torture commission to investigate claims of police abuse. […]

The defense attorneys have filed a motion to disqualify Fabio Valentini and Maria McCarthy, former prosecutors now in private practice, from serving as special prosecutors on the case. […]

“They’ve charged the taxpayers about half a million dollars for work on this case already to try to strike down (the) statute,” said Jennifer Bonjean, a defense attorney representing a man who has accused Kato of coercing a confession by torture. “They’re trying to invalidate the crown jewel legislation that responded to our terrible history of police brutality led by Jon Burge.” […]

Among other arguments in their motion, the special prosecutors contend that the commission’s ability to refer cases to judges for a hearing violates the Illinois constitution’s separation of powers clause by infringing on judicial authority. They make a similar argument to that made by prosecutors challenging the elimination of cash bail by the Illinois legislature.

This is a puzzler for sure. Special prosecutors who’ve already allegedly billed half a million bucks for their work now want the whole process dissolved?

* From the filing…

Consequently, and for the following four reasons, this Court should dismiss the [Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission’s] referral of the Kevin Murray matter:

• The [Administrative Review Law], which the TIRC Act specifically incorporates, prohibits evidentiary hearings during judicial review;

• the ARL does not authorize the remedies [granting a new trial or vacating a sentence] that Murray seeks in connection with the TIRC referral;

• because TIRC determinations are not “final decisions” and because the TIRC referrals are not “justiciable matters” (i.e., matters where parties with concrete and adverse legal interests have litigated those interests in a civil forum) the circuit court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to conduct any review of those determinations under the TIRC Act; and

• because the TIRC Act requires the circuit court to hold an evidentiary hearing on a TIRC referral, the TIRC Act is unconstitutional where it violates the separation of powers provision in the Illinois Constitution, Ill. Const. 1970. art. II, § 1, because it abrogates the inherent authority of the judiciary to dismiss a TIRC Act claim prior to an evidentiary hearing.