“Now we have to keep going,” Mt. Prospect mom says

A complex brew of emotions are stirring within Nanci Koschman in the wake of the decision she believes could finally vindicate and bring long overdue justice for her son.

The Mount Prospect woman sat in a courtroom with her sister, Susan Pazderski, on Friday as Cook County Judge Michael Toomin ordered the appointment of a special prosecutor to examine the circumstances of her son's death.

David Koschman, a 21-year-old Harper College student, died in 2004 from brain injuries suffered after he was punched or pushed and fell to the ground during an altercation outside a Chicago bar.

No charges were ever filed in connection with the April 2004 altercation, something Koschman family members believe is the result of the political connections of the person who Chicago Police say threw the punch: Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, a nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

On Sunday, Nanci Koschman spoke with the Daily Herald about her reaction to Toomin's ruling and what she expects for her son. While feeling that the long fight to get a special prosecutor has been worthwhile, Koschman said that feeling is still mixed with pain.

“Certainly, I want him to know that I fought for him. But nothing is going to ever make me feel better about what happened that night,” she said.

On both Friday and Saturday, she visited Memory Gardens cemetery in Arlington Heights, where her husband, Robert, and son are buried.

“There is nothing worse than standing over you son's grave,” she said.

“It was hard for him to go see his dad's name. It's very difficult to go see your son's name on a plaque and know that you're never going to see him again and he's never going to grow up. Now his friends are all starting to get married and have children and it's a difficult thing for me, because I'm never going to go through that.”

Koschman admits she was surprised at the judge's ruling, noting that both she and her sister voiced trepidation before the decision came down.

“My sister said, ‘If you hear the word ‘but,' we're in trouble.'”

Sure enough, “As he is talking and he goes ‘but,' we both like looked at each other and went, ‘Well, there it goes.' But he did come back with the decision we had been hoping for.

“I feel just a little bit more vindicated. Somebody also agrees with us that it wasn't handled properly.”

At issue has been of the investigation into David's death by Chicago police and county prosecutors, an inquiry Koschman believes was influenced by politics.

Authorities at first said Vanecko struck Koschman in self-defense, a claim Toomin rejected in Friday's decision, stating there is “no credible evidence” David Koschman used any physical force against Vanecko, and noting that Koschman was 90 pounds lighter and 10 inches shorter than Vanecko.

Nanci Koschman said police initially blamed the altercation on her son, but her doubts grew as more information came out through his friends.

“I just felt like it was wrong that all along everybody thought it was all David's fault,” she said.

The ruling Friday, she said, is “just one step in many steps we have had to take, but I like that we at least won one step and now we have to keep going.”

“You know I am not really looking for Mr. Vanecko or anybody that was involved to spend any time in jail” she added. “I know that nobody went out that night to hurt my son.”

However, Koschman said, it's “not right” if clout plays a role in how police investigate a person's death.

“I just want the record set straight, that for once and for all, even if everybody else doesn't care, in my own heart I need to know that David didn't deserve that ... that the person who hit him knows that they hit him and that it's wrong,” she said. “I just want the record set straight.

“It's not right for any parent to lose their child and someone's case not be handled properly because of who was involved.”

Inquiry: Mother says she just wants record set straight