Allegations:
On April 18, 1990, a taxicab driver was found dead in his taxicab. Two days later, Whirl was arrested and taken in for questioning. After the officers interrogated him, Whirl was handcuffed to a ring on the wall and left in the interview room. Detective Pienta, who worked under Commander Jon Burge in Area 2, found Whirl asleep, stepped on his foot and slapped him in the face. Pienta told Whirl the statement he had given was "bullshit." In an attempt to compel Whirl to cooperate with him, Pienta told Whirl officers had his girlfriend at the station. Whirl denied his involvement in the homicide. Pienta slapped him in the face each time he refused. Pienta noticed a scratch on Whirl's leg and repeatedly scraped a key across the wound until Whirl cried out in pain. Pienta said words to the effect of, "Shut up nigger, you're going to cooperate, you're going to listen." The officer continued to scrape the wound until Whirl complied and made a statement falsely implicating himself in the murder. Detective Marley was present throughout the interrogation but failed to intervene. As Whirl and Pienta rehearsed the new statement, Pienta continued to slap him and scrape his leg when he incorrectly recited any part of the statement. After leaving the interview room, Pienta took Whirl to see his girlfriend through a two-way mirror. Then, they went to a room where an Assistant State's Attorney, Marley, and a court reporter were waiting for Whirl's statement. Whirl was charged with attempted armed robbery and murder. Fearing that he would be convicted at a trial in which his coerced confession was the central piece of evidence against him and sentenced to death, Whirl pleaded guilty. In June 2012, the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission found that Whirl had a credible claim of police torture. In August 2015, Whirl's conviction was vacated and, two months later, he was released from prison after spending 24 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit.