Dec. 04--A federal judge on Friday denied a move by six Chicago police officers to postpone their trial in a civil rights lawsuit because of the media frenzy surrounding the release of the shocking dash-cam video of Laquan McDonald's shooting.
The officers were accused in a 2012 lawsuit of illegally ransacking a Chicago apartment and verbally and physically abusing the family members inside -- including two children -- after they had chased a suspect into the building.
The suit also alleges the officers conspired to cover up their wrongdoing in reports about the incident.
In a motion filed this week, lawyers representing the officers and the city asked U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle to postpone the start of the trial on Tuesday because it could "well garner media coverage that will unfairly inject this dissimilar case into the broader McDonald media narrative."
In a worst-case scenario, the jury could elect to "send a message" to the city and the Chicago Police Department "by punishing these six uninvolved and blameless officers," the motion stated.
Either way, if the trial proceeded as scheduled, "a significant portion of the potential jurors will be vividly aware of accusations that the Chicago Police Department tried to cover up a citizen's murder at the hands of one of its officers," the motion said.
Norgle denied the request on Friday afternoon, court records show.
The attorney representing the officers, Hugh O'Donnell, did not immediately respond to a call or an email seeking comment.
According to the lawyers for the six officers, none of them has any connection to the McDonald case or Officer Jason Van Dyke, who was charged last week with first-degree murder in McDonald's killing.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
