A Cook County judge has ruled imprisoned men who say they were tortured by Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his subordinates can't pursue a class-action lawsuit.
However, Judge Paul P. Biebel Jr. said Wednesday he has assigned Loyola University Law School dean David Yellen as a "special master" to identify legitimate claims of torture by incarcerated men.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports Yellen will identify legitimate torture cases and those men will get free legal counsel.
The class certification motion was from a lawsuit seeking evidentiary hearings for men claiming they were forced to confess to their crimes.
Prosecutors opposed the request, saying potential victims don't have enough in common to be lumped in one class.
Burge is serving a 4 1/2-year federal sentence for lying about the torture.
