From the Sun-Times:

Disgraced lawyer could testify
May be called by freed inmate in torture case

December 11, 2006
BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter
Bob Cooley, the onetime crooked lawyer who became a crucial witness to bring down lawyers, judges and mobsters decades ago in Operation Gambat, could be called as a witness in an unlikely case: a Chicago Police torture trial.

Lawyers for freed Death Row inmate Aaron Patterson disclosed last week they want to call Cooley to "testify to the methods, procedures, integrity, and character of specific judges, attorneys and policemen involved in Plaintiff Patterson's arrest, torture, coercion to falsely 'confess.' "

Patterson is suing former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and others, accusing them of torture to coerce a false confession to a double murder. Former Gov. George Ryan freed Patterson from Death Row in 2003. But Patterson landed right back behind bars after he was convicted of dealing drugs and weapons.

The disclosure of Cooley's possible testimony came last week as Patterson's lawyers filed court papers summarizing their witnesses.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown angrily ordered that filing pulled from the public record, saying it never should have been put there in the first place.

Brown reacted after the state's attorney's office filed an emergency motion asking that the document be stricken and also threatened to seek sanctions against Patterson lawyer Frank Avila and others for including "malicious," "false," and "inflammatory" information against Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine.

The information was "intended to harass, publicly embarrass, annoy and oppress Mr. Devine and others," lawyers for Devine wrote.

"It's an understatement to say this is outrageous and contemptible," said James R. Figliulo, a lawyer of Devine's.

In court, Avila said the filing was accidental.

"I'm standing behind everything in this filing," Avila said outside court.

The squabble comes as Patterson's civil case continues to drag without resolution. It was filed more than three years ago.