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Associated Press - November 5, 2009 7:34 PM ET
CHICAGO (AP) - U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow has postponed the trial of a Chicago police commander charged with lying about the use of torture on suspects.
Jon Burge will undergo treatment for prostate cancer, which today forced Lefkow to reschedule his trial from January 11 to May 10.
Defense attorneys fought off an effort by prosecutors to move up the trial to Nov. 30, saying they were too busy with cases already scheduled.
Lefkow made it clear she was reluctant to grant the defense's request for postponement. She said she could imagine Burge's attorneys coming back in May to ask for additional time.
Burge is accused of lying in written answers in a civil lawsuit. He claimed he knew nothing about practices such as "bagging." That's putting a suffocating plastic typewriter cover over a suspect's head to make him confess.
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