Chicago, IL – Kenneth Boudreau was nervous. The retired Chicago Police Department (CPD) detective talks like a tough guy, but his voice sped up and got louder under questioning by Russell Ainsworth, attorney for Johnny Plummer.

Fortunately for Boudreau, he has attorneys funded by Cook County taxpayers who were ready to jump in to help him clarify his answers.

Boudreau was on the stand in a third stage hearing at the Cook County courthouse on August 26. Recently, new evidence emerged in Plummer’s 35-year-old case of wrongful conviction.

Plummer had always maintained that he was beaten into a confession the night he was picked up at age 15. He reported that beating to the first adult who wasn’t a police officer, a doctor who did an intake interview when Plummer was handed over to the Audi Home. That doctor wrote Plummer’s statement in his notes.

In all of his trials, CPD denied that such a medical record existed. After 35 years, it suddenly appeared in a standard search of Plummer’s files.

Back in 1991, the Area 3 police station where Boudreau was assigned was also where Detective Jon Burge worked. Everyone knows Burge’s name – the leader of the Midnight Crew of brutal detectives. Because of Burge and those other dirty cops, Illinois is the only state that has a Torture Commission in the legislature. At least 223 cases have been exonerated in court because they proved that the men involved had been subject to physical abuse. Boudreau was involved in the interrogation of 28 of those men – the largest number of any cop besides Burge.

Three months after Boudreau arrived there, Burge was suspended because an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards (OPS) found evidence he tortured a suspect, Andrew Wilson.

What can a timeline tell us?

Detective Kenneth Boudreau had much to tell the court about his transition from being a part of the military to serving as a police officer back in 1991. From Boudreau’s claim, there was little probability that he could have met or tortured Johnny Plummer.

Plummer, now 50 years old, has been sitting in prison since being tortured into a confession back in 1991 at age 15. That was one of the last years that the “Midnight Crew,” run by the now-deceased Jon Burge, was in full effect. Since then, the Chicago City Council voted for reparations to the survivors of Burge and the officers he commanded.

It stands to reason, then, that Boudreau would feel it necessary to distance himself from Burge. According to Boudreau, his time as a detective began in August 1991, and he had rotating partners. The detective denied having worked with or even seen Burge at Area 3. Plummer’s defense, Russell Ainsworth, highlighted that this may have been an under-exaggeration. The two had time to cross paths, as Burge’s suspension occurred in November 1991.

Furthermore, this was at the height of Burge’s legal issues. Ainsworth asked Boudreau, “You helped fundraise for Burge,” to which the detective’s defense objected. A new detective such as Boudreau would have likely reported to Jon Burge between August and November 1991, especially because Burge was the overseer of the torture that occurred in the Southside from 1972 to 1991.

Plummer has always said that Boudreau and Michael Kill were the two detectives that tortured him. Although the official police report excludes Boudreau, the detective admitted in court that it was common practice to change reports to include detectives with supporting evidence. Close followers of the torture scandals in Chicago know it was also common practice among cops to leave out of the report the name of the cop that inflicted most of the torture.

Legal fight continues for justice for Johnny Plummer

The next step in this case will be on October 29, when Joey Mogul, one of Johnny Plummer’s previous attorneys, will take the stand. Mogul says she requested his medical records during that trial some years ago. Plummer’s medical records show he reported being tortured. The judge in Plummer’s case, Tyria B. Walton, recognized that the medical records were significant, and that their exclusion from his original trial would be integral in defining how to move forward with this case.

In a June hearing, Judge Walton explained, “The Brady language is unyielding: whether the withholding was intentional or not, there was definite cause for a Brady Violation.”

Johnny’s family is hoping that proving there was a Brady Violation will lead to him being released while he continues to fight for justice.

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceTorture #JohnnyPlummer #CPD #OppressedNationalities

Chicago, IL – Dozens of community members gathered on Thursday, January 29 at Malcolm X Community College to demand city officials hold Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers accountable for their violence against Black and brown communities and collaboration with Immigrants and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) set this year’s goals for itself, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), and the CPD superintendent.

The meeting began with public comments. Community members demanded that the CCPSA publish all communications regarding CPD and ICE collaboration; an end CPD crowd control during immigration enforcement activities; an end to pretextual traffic stops; an end to CPD’s use of tactical teams; that the CCPSA choose a candidate for COPA head that has a strong record of being pro-accountability; and the removal of all current and former Oathkeepers and other members of white supremacist groups from the police force.

Omar Flores, co-chair of the Immigrant Rights Working Committee (IRWC) of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) and a survivor of ICE’s violence, described the varied forms of harassment he has experienced.

“These things should not be allowed! We see plenty of instances when CPD is supposedly coming out, when the people are showing their righteous anger at what is happening, we see CPD do nothing when it comes to ICE violating our rights,” Flores said.

“It’s your guys’ job to be creative in this moment, because people’s lives are literally counting on it, as we’re seeing in Minneapolis,” Flores urged the CCPSA.

Brian Young, Jr., a resident of the historically Black and brown 25th Police District, expressed their disappointment at the CCPSA's history of inaction.

“We've been coming here since 2024, when Dexter Reed was killed by police officers over pretextual traffic stops, when this young man was killed and gunned down like a fucking animal in the streets,” Young Jr. said. “I organized and I came here with the community to demand an end to pretextual traffic stops – that was pushed onto the fucking backburner.”

CAARPR leader Kayla Nguyen described the CCPSA’s hesitance to investigate violations of the Welcoming City Ordinance despite 1500 people demanding an end to CPD and ICE collaboration at the CCPSA special listening session on January 8.

“We want collaborators addressed publicly, and we want them to face meaningful consequences now, because it is a shame that this city continues to wait to take action on wrongs the people know to be true,” Nguyen affirmed. “Why must the people of Chicago fight both our local law enforcement and ICE at the same time? The protection of CPD, not for our people, but for ICE, emboldens these federal killers and results in injuries to our Black and brown communities.”

The CCPSA then voted on their strategic priorities for 2026. These included a new traffic stop policy, preventative alternatives to public safety, and more accountability for collaborators with federal immigration enforcement.

Sandra Wortham was the only commissioner to vote “Nay” to the final priority regarding CPD-ICE collaboration, to raucous booing from the audience. Wortham demanded that the audience remember their decorum, to which audience members shouted, “Maybe you should remember who you protect and serve!”

The CCPSA additionally elected interim COPA chief LaKenya White to the permanent COPA chief position, who accepted all of the presented goals and strategic priorities, as did CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling.

Community members left the meeting hopeful regarding the strategic priorities, but resolved to continue to attend the next CCPSA meeting on Thursday, February 26 to hold the CCPSA accountable to these promised goals.

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #ICE #KillerICE #CPD #CAARPR