Burge Torture Victim Gets New Trial As Judge Voids Bogus Murder Conviction

May 28, 2009

Nineteen years after he was viciously beaten by subordinates of indicted former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge, Victor Safforld – formerly known as Cortez Brown – was awarded a new trial recently when a Cook County Circuit Judge overturned his wrongful murder conviction, and calls the evidence against the rogue cops “staggering” and “damning.”

The decision by Judge Clayton Crane buoys hopes of ending the prolonged injustice inflicted on Safforld, who was bludgeoned with a flashlight by Burge’s underlings until he submitted a false confession to the 1990 killings of Devin Boelter and Curitis Sims. 

Safforld was subsequently sentenced to death based exclusively on that spurious confession.  That sentence was later commuted to life in prison, where Safforld has languished since 1991.

Safforld is represented by Locke Bowman, Legal Director of the Roderick MacArthur Justice Center. Read the full press release here>>