Botched Investigation?

Or politically suspended?

• Mayor Daley’s nephew received no favored treatment from the “thorough, fair and impartial” investigation that followed the 2004 death of a 21-year-old man who got into an altercation with a group that included the mayor’s nephew, a high-ranking police official said Monday.

  Although witnesses were recently re-interviewed, Deputy Police Supt. Ernest Brown said the investigation into David Koschman’s death was never technically re-opened.

  “The investigative portion of the case was completed. ... Based on the [Freedom of Information request] from the Sun-Times, we realized that, because of an administrative oversight, the case remained unclosed. So we shifted it to a different area for a comprehensive review of the entire investigative process as it stood,” Brown said.

Translation - we didn't bury it deep enough the first time, so we'll do it now after a wink and a nod to proper procedure.

• “That review revealed that the facts of that investigation remained unchanged since it was initially investigated, and it will be closed shortly.”

  Brown was asked whether he’s confident R.J. Vanecko, the mayor’s nephew, got no favored treatment in the case.

  “Absolutely. ... I’m confident that we conducted a comprehensive investigation — a thorough, fair and impartial investigation,” said Brown, chief of the Bureau of Patrol.

  Pressed to explain the delay in questioning witnesses, Brown said, “That’s as much as I’m at liberty to answer right now.”

Wow Ernie. Did they really promise you the top spot? Because you are really laying it on thick. And how about this?

• Asked why the case was re-opened, Daley initially changed the subject to his push for stricter gun laws, the purpose of Monday’s news conference.

  “I know you want to talk about other things. [But] this is gun violence. Would you ask a question on that one, please? Ask one. Can you ask a question on gun violence? Why not? ... Knock-knock. No one is there,” Daley said as police and community leaders who joined him at the Homan Square police warehouse laughed along with him.

Yeah, because a death investigation of a 21-year-old at the hands of a mayoral relative is always a laughing matter. You wouldn't want to actually investigate the entire thing in a timely manner instead of waiting 7 years for memories to get fuzzy. It's not like there's anything politically suspicious about this group:

• Vanecko’s group that night included Craig Denham, a former LaSalle Bank official who later married a sister of Daley’s son-in-law, and Kevin D. McCarthy and his wife, Bridget Higgins McCarthy. She’s a daughter of developer Jack Higgins, a close friend of the mayor.

Move along folks.