3 cops accused in conspiracy to cover up McDonald shooting head to trial

The night of Oct. 20, 2014, Jason Van Dyke shot Laquan McDonald 16 times. Almost as soon as the shooting stopped, special prosecutors say, his fellow officers swung into action - in a conspiracy to protect Van Dyke from punishment for the shooting.

Last month, nearly four years after McDonald was killed, Van Dyke was found guilty of second-degree murder in a historic verdict - the first time a Chicago Police officer had been convicted of murder in an on-duty shooting in more than 50 years.

On Tuesday, three Chicago Police Department officers will go on trial on charges they covered for Van Dyke after the shooting, a case that activists say may have more impact on the department and the city than the guilty verdict against Van Dyke.

Special Prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes - a former federal prosecutor and Cook County judge - leads a team of private attorneys that in 2017 filed charges of obstruction of justice and criminal conspiracy against three officers: Thomas Gaffney, one of the first officers to encounter McDonald the night of the shooting; Joseph Walsh, who stood just a few feet away from Van Dyke as he opened fire; and David March, the homicide detective who led the investigation of the shooting for the CPD.

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