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Lawsuit against Vanecko in Mt. Prospect man's death tossed

Mount Prospect woman disappointed by dismissal of lawsuit in son's death

Mount Prospect resident Nanci Koschman said Thursday that she was feeling “disappointed, and a little sad” after a federal judge threw out a civil-rights lawsuit she filed that accused Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors of a cover-up in the death of her son, David.

“I'm disappointed not for me, but for David,” she said. “He still hasn't received justice. But be assured, I'll fight another day.”

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer dismissed the suit on Thursday, saying the statute of limitations on filing had ended. She suggested, though, that Koschman could sue in state court or try to reach an out-of-court settlement with the defendants.

“My attorneys will look at all those options, and I'm still committed to moving forward,” Koschman said.

Koschman's attorneys G. Flint Taylor and Locke Bowman could not be reached for comment Thursday.

David Koschman died in 2004 at the age of 21 after being punched by Richard Vanecko, a nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, during a bar fight.

Vanecko faced no charges until December 2012, and he later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter after a special prosecutor was named to re-examine the initial trial.

Having claimed all along that Vanecko enjoyed special treatment because of his relationship to Daley, Nanci Koschman filed the civil-rights suit March 24, naming two former police superintendents, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, her predecessor, Dick Devine, and unnamed Daley family members as participants in the “cover-up” that she says interfered with preliminary investigations.

Nanci Koschman said her sadness about Pallmeyer's ruling did not mean she'd given up hope.

“It's been like this throughout,” she said. “I go through up periods and then I go through lows. This is just one of those lows I need to get through, and I will.”

• ABC 7 and Daily Herald news services contributed to this report.

  Nancy Koschman holds a photo of her son, David, who died in 2004 after a fight outside a Chicago bar. JOE LEWNARD/ jlewnard@dailyherald.com, 2011
Richard J. Vanecko
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