Chicago, IL – Survivors of police torture, family members and supporters of Johnny Plummer packed a Cook County Courtroom on Tuesday, May 26 to witness the cross examination of the former Chicago Police Department detective who Plummer says beat him into confessing to a murder he had nothing to do with.

Plummer was 15 years old when detectives came to his house in the middle of the night to bring him in for questioning. Starting at 4 a.m., Plummer was held for two hours before being seen by detectives. Over 20 hours later, he signed a confession that was used to convict him for murder.

Plummer has been in prison for over 34 years and has maintained that he only signed the confession after being beaten by Detective Boudreau and another, Michael Kill, with fists and with a flashlight on his face and body.

In a previous trial regarding Plummer’s wrongful conviction, his lawyers had requested medical records from CPD showing that Johnny had been injured while held at Area 3. CPD responded by saying that no such records existed. Recently, those same medical records were recently sent to Plummer’s lawyers from CPD, apparently by accident, according to the lawyers.

Although the doctor who had examined Plummer and recorded the injuries is now deceased, the release of the medical records prompted the judge in Plummer’s case to allow for new evidentiary hearings to go forward. In addition to Tuesday’s hearing, the judge agreed to two more hearing dates in June.

Supporters watched as the detective, Kenneth Boudreau, was shown photos of the Area 3 Violent Crimes building that he led in the 1990s. The first of the photos depicted a holding cell called “the cage” with what appear to be Black mannequin heads with dreadlocks hanging from the wire fencing. Another photo showed two black hands in handcuffs with the phrase, “Another happy ending” written beneath them.

When Plummer’s attorney asked Boudreau if he ever objected to these props being displayed in his building, Boudreau said he never did. “In Chicago, cops have a term ‘head’ to describe suspects,” he said. “The doll heads could have been dark humor.”

Plummer’s brother, Coston Plummer, was present at the hearing and said he wants the world to know the extent of this corruption and injustice within CPD.

“They tortured so many Black and brown men for decades,” Plummer said. “This should go down as one of the darkest points in Chicago history.”

Boudreau was the head of Area 3 violent crimes in the 90s, where he worked under disgraced police commander Jon Burge to torture and wrongfully convict hundreds of Black men on the South Side of Chicago. In 2005, Boudreau, Burge and several other police detectives who worked under Burge all pled the 5th in a federal grand jury investigating claims of widespread police torture under Burge’s command.

“Boudreau has 75 people who don’t even know each other saying the exact same story about the way they were tortured by him,” Coston Plummer said. “And now he’s enjoying his life and getting a pension. I think that’s unjust.”

Leaders of the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST), held a rally outside the courthouse after the proceedings, demanding freedom for Plummer and all survivors of police torture, and that Boudreau, Kill, and all the complicit CPD detectives and states attorneys be held accountable for their crimes.

“We are in a system where justice is always delayed,” said Jasmine Smith, a co-chair of CFIST, which is a campaign of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR). “But we are going to continue to fight until justice will no longer be denied for any of our survivors.”

Every step of the way since he was 15, the system has failed him,” Coston Plummer said. “They can never make it whole, but they can acknowledge what has happened and let him and countless others go.”

Coston and Johnny Plummer lost their mother, Jeanette Plummer, earlier this month. Jeanette Plummer fought for her son’s freedom since he was kidnapped nearly 35 years ago. In the past ten years, she has also been active in the movement to stop police crimes and pass legislation to create an all-elected civilian police-accountability body.

In her final days, their mother was still fighting to free Johnny, Coston Plummer said. “Johnny had called her and she was dying, trying to lift up her arms to grab the phone and speak words,” he said. “She died fighting for her son and believing in her son.”

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