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WHO KILLED DAVID KOSCHMAN? | A WATCHDOGS INVESTIGATION

Alvarez wont prosecute

Statesattorneysaystheresnot enoughevidencetochargeDaleys nephewindeathofDavidKoschman
French jets attack Gadhafi on ground
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BY TIM NOVAK, CHRIS FUSCO AND CAROL MARIN | PAGE 11A

U.S. MISSILES STRIKE LIBYA

SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 2011 | CHICAGO SUN-TIMES | 11A

WHO KILLED DAVID KOSCHMAN? | A WATCHDOGS INVESTIGATION

Alvarez: Not enough evidence to charge Daleys nephew

Decision prompts attorney claim of a possible cover-up
BY TIM NOVAK, CHRIS FUSCO AND CAROL MARIN

at Vanecko and three of his friends and got punched. But in recent interviews, three of Staff Reporters Koschmans four friends who were with him, along with a bystander even years ago, Cook County the states attorneys office deprosecutors decided not to scribed as one of two unbiased charge anyone in the violent witnesses, say they never told death of David Koschman, saying it was because the Chicago Police De- police the 5-foot-5, 140-pound Koschman was running or lunging partment didnt know for sure who had pushed or punched the 21-year- at the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Vanecko and his group when he got punched. old from Mount Prospect during a drunken confrontation after a night They say he wasnt being physically aggressive, as police and prosecuof bar-hopping on Rush Street. tors maintain. And, when detectives Now that the police say they know who did it Richard J. R.J. re-interviewed them in January, all four of Koschmans friends agreed Vanecko, a nephew of Mayor Daley to take lie-detector tests to prove and White House Chief of Staff theyre telling the truth. William Daley Cook Still, Alvarezs stateCounty States Attorney ment said: The contraAnita Alvarez says there dictory statements made still isnt enough evidence by witnesses seven years to file criminal charges. after the actual incident After reviewing the do not allow us to discount CPD reports, we do not see the statements that those any new or additional evisame witnesses made to dence or information that Chicago police detectives would enable the states Richard J. during the course of the attorneys office to bring felony charges in this case, R.J. Vanecko initial investigation and within weeks of the inciAlvarezs press secretary, dent. At this time, we are unaware Sally Daly, wrote in an e-mail. Abof any new evidence that would sent evidence that would enable us enable us to bring charges, and to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, there is not a good-faith basis therefore we could not bring the case to a grand jury. to bring charges. Two well-known Chicago Alvarezs decision came after criminal-defense lawyers say there the Police Department recently has always been enough evidence to reinvestigated the case, concluding file criminal charges in the case. that Vanecko threw the punch but Richard Kling who is also a that he acted in self-defense. The law professor at IIT-Chicago Kent police closed the case exceptionalCollege of Law and once had Alvaly, without bringing it to Alvarezs rez as a student had told the Sunoffice to weigh whether charges Times prosecutors could have filed should be filed. murder or involuntary manslaughBut Alvarez agreed. A written ter charges seven years ago. statement from her office said On Friday, G. Flint Taylor who the case would be tough to prove has successfully sued the City of because five of the nine witnesses including four Koschman friends Chicago on behalf of prisoners who claimed to have been tortured into now contradict what they told confessions by police detectives the police seven years ago. working under former Cmdr. Jon In the original police reports, Burge said that if a black man detectives say the witnesses told were implicated under similar them Koschman had run or lunged

Staffers in the office of Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez say sevenyear old files on the Koschman case have vanished. | AL PODGORSKI~SUN-TIMES
circumstances, he would have been charged. It seems to me theres a real possibility of a massive police cover-up here, said Taylor. If this person were a normal citizen, particularly an African-American person and not the nephew of the mayor of Chicago, he would have been indicted on a variety of charges if not murder, involuntary manslaughter. Maybe there needs to be a special prosecutor, Taylor said. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgeralds office should look into this. Alvarez hasnt responded to repeated interview requests over the last month to talk about Koschmans death, which the Cook County medical examiners office ruled a homicide in 2004. At the time, Alvarez was the chief of staff to then-Cook County States Attorney Richard Devine. Devines staff advised the police then that there wasnt enough evidence to charge Vanecko. The states attorneys offices sevenyear-old files on the case have disappeared, according to Alvarezs staff. Devine is a longtime friend of the Daley family. Now in private law practice, Devine represents Vaneckos older brother, Robert Vanecko, in a lawsuit stemming from $68 million that five city pension funds hired his firm to manage. Alvarez has been in the states attorneys office for more than two decades, starting there when Mayor Daley was the states attorney. Koschman died May 6, 2004, of brain injuries suffered when the punch to his face sent him reeling backward, and he cracked his head on the street on Division Street at Dearborn in the early morning hours of April 25, 2004. Koschman and his friends had just left a bar around 3 a.m. Koschman bumped into Craig Denham, 29, a then-LaSalle Bank official who was out with Vanecko and two married friends, Kevin and Bridget McCarthy. Koschman and Denham began yelling and cursing. The argument ended when Vanecko punched Koschman, according to police reports that were recently released for the first time, in response to a public records request from the Sun-Times. According to police, Vanecko and Denham ran away, taking a cab to a bar. The McCarthys were detained by police, who let them go after Kevin McCarthy told them he didnt know the two men who ran off. An ambulance rushed Koschman to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and detectives began interviewing witnesses. After talking with Kevin McCarthy and Michael Connolly one of two bystand-

ers the investigation came to a two-week halt. It resumed four days after Koschman died. Over the next 10 days, detectives interviewed Koschmans four friends, Vaneckos three friends and one of the two bystanders, Phillip Kohler, whod been out drinking with Connolly, his co-worker. Connolly and Kohler gave police conflicting accounts. Connolly said he told them Koschman hadnt been physically aggressive, while Kohler told them Koschman charged into Vaneckos group. Kohler also told them he didnt know anyone in Koschmans or Vaneckos group. Kohler now says he later realized that he and Vanecko had been high school classmates at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, graduating in 1992. They also had been on Loyolas freshman wrestling team together. Vanecko refused to talk with the police, though he did appear in a lineup on May 20, 2004, in which the police said no one was able to positively identify him. Following the lineup, Darren OBrien then head of the states attorneys felony review unit and still a member of Alvarezs staff met with detectives and advised them there wasnt enough evidence to charge Vanecko. This was a case that had three major problems, in my opinion, before I could even think about pulling the trigger on charging anybody, OBrien said in a recent interview. There was contrary information given about the contact that was made between somebody in Vaneckos group and Koschman. Some people said it was a shove. Some people said it was a punch. . . I couldnt find anybody that could identify the shover or pusher. Also, OBrien said, Koschmans friends told me that Koschman even though he was a little guy when he was drinking, he was an aggressive type of personality. And, in this particular case, he was the aggressor. He would not let it go. While Koschman had bumped into Denham, he didnt strike anyone, according to police reports and Sun-Times interviews.