Not guilty plea for ex-police official

CHICAGO, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Jon Burge, a former commander in the Chicago Police Department, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of lying about the torture of black suspects on his watch.

Burge was arrested last week at his Apollo Beach, Fla., home on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow tentatively set a May 11 trial date. The judge said Burge would not have to appear in court for hearings in November after his lawyer said his client would incur a "fairly substantial expense" to fly back to Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Burge is alleged to have tortured young men while he was a Chicago police officer in the 1980s and 1990s. He was fired in 1993, after the Chicago Police Board found he tortured accused police killer Andrew Wilson into confessing to the crime.