A Chicago detective who oversaw one of the most brutal interrogations at Guantánamo Bay also led a years-long regime of torture to extract confessions from minority suspects in the US, a Guardian investigation has found.
Richard Zuley, a detective on Chicago’s north side from 1977 to 2007, repeatedly used methods including shackling suspects to walls for hours, threatening family members, and warning of the death penalty to force confessions. His tactics led to at least one wrongful conviction and have cast doubt on others.
In 1990, Lathierial Boyd was convicted of murder and spent 23 years in prison before being freed in 2013 after the state’s attorney found Zuley had planted evidence and withheld details. Boyd has filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Zuley, alleging racial animus.
Zuley’s methods in Chicago mirrored those he used at Guantánamo Bay as a US Navy reserve lieutenant. He took over the interrogation of Mohamedou Ould Slahi in 2003, subjecting him to death threats, extreme temperatures, and sleep deprivation.
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office is now examining a second conviction linked to Zuley, and has requested complaint files from a local police review authority. The investigation follows a pattern of police torture in Chicago, including disgraced former commander Jon Burge, who administered electric shocks to suspects.
