Anthony Holmes is one of the first known torture survivors. On May 30, 1973, former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and Detective John Yucaitis repeatedly electrically shocked Holmes with the electric shock box and suffocated him with plastic bags, while subjecting him to racial epithets and threats. As a result of this torturous interrogation Holmes confessed to a murder he did not commit and was subsequently incarcerated for decades.
Holmes courageously testified against Burge at Burge’s perjury trial in June of 2010 and he was one of five torture survivors the jury heard from before finding that Burge was guilty.
Watch Holmes describe his own torture while testifying at a deposition in June of 2006 and read his testimony from Burge’s sentencing hearing in January of 2011.