Koschman prosecutor Dan K. Webb’s bill so far: $255,213
BY TIM NOVAK, CHRIS FUSCO AND LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporters tnovak@suntimes.com September 5, 2012 3:48PM
Former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb, seen here after being named in April 2012 as the special prosecutor to re-examine the 2004 death of David Koschman. | John H. White~Sun-Times
Updated: October 7, 2012 7:58AM
The special prosecutor investigating the case of David Koschman — who died after being punched by a nephew of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley — has submitted his first bills, totaling $255,213.
That covers fees and expenses for the first 10 weeks of the now-four-month-old investigation led by former U.S. Attorney Dan K. Webb into Koschman’s May 2004 death and the way the case was handled by the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. Webb’s bills are subject to approval Monday by the Cook County Board’s Finance Committee. That panel is headed by Daley’s brother, John P. Daley, who is expected to abstain from voting. The Daleys’ nephew Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko threw the punch that led to Koschman’s death eight years ago, the police concluded last year as they closed the homicide case that had remained on the books as open and unsolved for seven years. The police decided Vanecko acted in self-defense, though, and didn’t seek criminal charges. Cook County Circuit Judge Michael P. Toomin took the unusual step of appointing a special prosecutor on April 23 after declaring “the system has failed” Koschman.
But the agenda for the county board’s finance committee meeting Monday shows that most of the expenses submitted for the work done by Webb and a team of lawyers from his firm, Winston & Strawn, were incurred before Webb impaneled a grand jury that has been meeting in his law firm’s Loop office building. Webb’s bills also include $9,146 for travel — some witnesses no longer live in the Chicago area — and $920 in expenses for the grand jury, which began working in June. Two weeks after Koschman’s death, the police put Vanecko in a lineup viewed by Koschman’s friends, but no one could identify him.
Then-police Supt. Jody Weis ordered a re-examination of Koschman’s death. Three months before Daley stepped down as mayor, the police identified Vanecko for the first time as having thrown the punch but said he had acted in self-defense. Vanecko never spoke with the police.
