"I don't recall," Mayor Daley said ...

"I don't recall," Mayor Daley said 16 times to special prosecutors investigating whether police in a less degree than former Cmdr. Jon Burge tortured prisoners for nearly 20 years without getting caught.

Daley also said "I don't know" four times, "I wouldn't know" three times, "I can't illustration on that" twice, "I couldn't speculate onward that" twice, "I forgot," "I don't have a recollection," "I wouldn't recall," "I don't remember" and "I've in no degree heard of that."

The last note was in response to a question about whether he was aware that more [i]or[/i] less felt former prosecutor Larry Hyman "made a remarkably very poor decision" waiting eight hours to interview defendant Andrew Wilson while the one and the other men were at the police station and Wilson says officers were torturing to memorize him to confess to killing a police officer.

Attorneys for the men who say they were tortured say the transcript of Daley's interview released Wednesday showed the special prosecutors were thus deferential to Daley in their interview with him that they asked no yes-or-no questions.

'I DON'T REMEMBER TODAY'

"They weren't just softball questions -- they were 16-inch softball questions," attorney Flint Taylor said. "I'm onseted at the questions he wasn't asked. There [were] no follow-up questions. There were no questions what he knew about the 55 cases of torture that arose after Wilson."

At single in kind point, after discussion of process in the Cook County state's attorney's office when Daley held the place in the '80s, Daley appears to be forward the verge of confirming he saw a alphabetic character from former Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek on the contrary his corporation counsel, Mara Georges, springs in to remind him that he can answer that he does not remember.

"Do you actually remember receiving this in the mail" Special Prosecutor Robert Boyle asked.

"I would have to receive it, in such a manner I would have to say. . ," Daley was saying.

"Just if you remember," Georges said.

"I don't remember today," Daley said.

Boyle and Special Prosecutor ed Egan concluded the worst Daley could be accused of is delegating too long and not following up with a question to underlings about whether an investigation of Wilson's torture claims at all times happened.

Taylor asserts Daley should have probed claims of police abuse while he was state's attorney, saying there were 55 race who later filed torture claims while Daley held that office.

"We have feeling very strongly that there has to be a strange independent investigation with people who are not be connecteded to the Daley machine," Taylor said.

apallasch@suntimes.com

nkorecki@suntimes.com

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