Witness says he has nightmares about police abuse

CHICAGO – A 63-year-old former gang member nicknamed "Satan" testified Wednesday that he still has nightmares about being shocked and suffocated by former Chicago police lieutenant and his men during a murder investigation more than 35 years ago. Anthony Holmes was the first witness called in Jon Burge's federal trial on obstruction of justice and perjury charges. Burge is accused of lying when he denied in a civil lawsuit that he and other detectives had tortured suspects. He faces a maximum of 45 years in prison if convicted of all charges. He's pleaded not guilty to the charges and is free on bond. Burge was fired by the police department in 1993 for mistreatment of a suspect, but no charges were filed. Holmes testified that Burge and several officers rousted him from bed early on May 29, 1973, and took him to the Area 2 police station on Chicago's South Side to question him about a murder. Once there, he said Burge cuffed his wrists and ankles, put plastic bags over his head and attached wires to his body so an electric current could be sent through them. "(It was) like a thousand needles going through my body," Holmes said, emotion in his voice. "I thought I had died."