Aaron Patterson, a death row inmate, says police punched...

Aaron Patterson, a death row inmate, says police punched him and suffocated him with a plastic typewriter cover 15 years ago to get a false confession in the killings of an elderly couple. A few years ago, Patterson's claims might have been dismissed. But beginning tomorrow, his claims will get a new hearing under orders from the Illinois Supreme Court. With the hearing comes pressing questions into allegations of systematic torture at a Chicago police unit in the 1980s, growing calls for an outside investigator and growing doubts about the convictions of as many as 10 Illinois death row inmates. "It's our point of view that there's been a concerted effort to keep this secret within the police department for many years," said Locke Bowman, an attorney at the University of Chicago law school. Bowman is one of two lawyers asking for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate what happened at Area 2 detective headquarters during the 1980s and decide if charges are warranted. At the heart of the scandal is a violent crimes unit in the southern end of Chicago commanded by former police Lt. Jon Burge in the 1980s. Burge was fired in 1993 after death row inmate Andrew Wilson won a $1.1 million civil suit against the department, claiming he was tortured with electric shocks at Burge's precinct. A subsequent investigation by the police department found that abuse was systematic. (see also Dec. 14)