Gaughan Thursday appointed Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon as special prosecutor in the murder trial of Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke.
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Critics have said Alvarez is beholden to the police union, and has failed to adequately prosecute cases of police misconduct and corruption.
Anne Kavanagh, a spokeswoman for Van Dayke’s lawyer Daniel Herbert, said, “The defense has never objected to the special prosecutor in this case and they’re prepared to defend the case no matter who the prosecutor is”.
McDonald, who was reportedly high on drugs that night but was not armed, was shot in 2014 by Van Dyke several times as he walked down the street, the dash cam showing the officer firing without any apparent provocation.
A judge has appointed a suburban Chicago state’s attorney as the special prosecutor in the case against a Chicago police officer charged with first-degree murder in the killing of black teenager Laquan McDonald.
The day after the shooting, police said McDonald lunged at officers with a knife, but dashboard camera video of the shooting released a year ago showed the teen was walking away from Van Dyke when he was shot.
Criticism of the way officials handled the McDonald shooting led to the firing of Chicago’s police chief and calls for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign. Earlier Thursday, the city said it plans to take the unprecedented step of releasing video of a fatal police shooting just days after it happened.
A group of civil rights attorneys and Rev. Jesse Jackson had petitioned Gaughan to appoint a special prosecutor to replace Alvarez, citing her close ties to the Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents Chicago police officers.
That policy was adopted following the outpouring of anger of the city’s efforts to keep the McDonald video from going public.
The city resisted releasing the dashcam video of the shooting for more than a year and did so only after a court ordered it to do so.
Autopsy results show that O’Neal, of Chicago, died of a gunshot wound to the back during a stolen vehicle investigation.
Assistant Kane county state’s attorneys Jody Gleason, Dan Weiler and Joe Cullen will assist in the case. And police have announced that a body camera of an officer involved in the shooting was not recording at the time.
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A coalition of groups that had previously petitioned the court for a special prosecutor before Alvarez made a decision to step aside said they were not happy with the choice of McMahon.
