Chicago mayor ordered to give deposition

CHICAGO, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has been ordered to answer questions under oath about police misconduct when he served as Cook County state's attorney.

The ruling by U.S. Magistrate Geraldine Soat Brown comes in the case of a pardoned death row inmate who, along with two other men, was promised $14.8 million in compensation by the city for claims of being tortured by Chicago police, The Chicago Tribune reports.

Both Mayor Daley, who was county state's attorney at the time of Hobley's arrest in 1987, and the city corporation council have denied agreeing to such a settlement with Madison Hobley.

Lawyers for Hobley have been trying for two years to get a deposition from the mayor. Former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge, who was accused of physically abusing suspects to elicit confessions, retired to south Florida in 1993.

City attorneys argue that the mayor has no information about police brutality that couldn't be obtained from other sources.

City officials may appeal Brown's ruling.