Judge: Burge won't testify in hearing on new trial

A former Chicago Police commander will not be required to testify at a hearing next week for an inmate who wants a new trial and claims officers tortured him into confessing to two murders nearly two decades ago.

A Florida judge refused to issue a subpoena Tuesday requiring Jon Burge, who lives in Florida, to testify at Cortez Brown's evidentiary hearing Monday in Chicago, according to Brown attorney Locke Bowman.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Walter Heinrich said it would not be necessary to make Burge travel to Chicago since he would likely plead the Fifth Amendment, Bowman said.

Last month, a Cook County judge ruled that Brown's attorneys could go to Florida to ask for the subpoena. Such permission is needed for witnesses who live out of state.

Brown, 38, was convicted of two 1990 murders but says he is innocent and confessed to the crimes only after police in Burge's unit beat him.

Bowman said he would appeal the Florida judge's decision.

"I find it very surprising," Bowman said. "The judge here who is presiding over the hearing who is familiar with the issues made a determination and I'm surprised that a judge in Florida would appoint himself to overrule that."

Burge was fired in 1993 after a police board concluded a murder suspect was abused while in custody. He was charged in October 2008 with lying under oath on written questions in a civil lawsuit when he denied knowing about or taking part in the torture of suspects in the 1970s and 1980s. He has pleaded not guilty to federal perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges.