After hearing oral arguments in a mother's request for a special prosecutor to investigate her son's 2004 death, a Cook County judge on Thursday said a decision will come in about a week's time.
"He was the most important person in the world to me, and I just want to know that it's going to be handled fairly," Nanci Koschman said through tears after the hearing.
Koschman want the prosecutor to determine whether Chicago police covered up evidence or the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office had any conflict on interest in the case. Her son, David Koschman, died after he was punched on a Chicago street.
Koschman's family has long claimed that Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley, delivered the punch that led to the Mount Prospect man's death. David Koschman's death was ruled a homicide, but no one was ever charged.
Earlier this week, Vanecko formally entered the legal battle surrounding the years-old death.
His lawyers on Monday filed a motion to intervene on a request for a special prosecutor in the case and disputed the suggestion by Nanci Koschman's lawyers that Vanecko may have confessed to throwing a punch that night.
Vanecko's lawyers say police reports don't mention a confession because Vanecko's lawyer was with him the day he was arrested. His lawyers say he never gave a police statement.
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez also is fighting the request to appoint a special prosecutor in the case.
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.
