Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez said Tuesday that she will fight efforts to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate a years-old death.
Nanci Koschman and several others last month submitted a "friends of the court brief" asking for a fresh investigation into a 2004 incident in which her son died 12 days after being knocked to the ground during a drunken confrontation on Division Street in the early-morning hours of April 25, 2004.
His death was ruled a homicide but no one was ever charged. The man who delivered the fatal blow to Koschman, R. J. Vanecko, is a relative of former Mayor Richard Daley.
Alvarez filed a 50-page motion stating that her office bears no conflict on interest in investigating the death, despite the fact that one of the assistants in her office, Darren O'Brien, worked on the case in 2004 and recommended that no charges be filed.
Nanci Koschman has until February 21 to respond to the motion.
Oral arguments regarding the appointment of a special prosecutor in the nearly eight-year-old homicide case involving former Daley's nephew will begin in early March, Judge Michael Toomin said last month.
