Nearly one year ago, a Cook County grand jury returned indictments accusing two former assistant state’s attorneys of misconduct in the prosecution of a man who the courts have said was wrongfully convicted of the 1982 fatal shootings of two Chicago patrol officers.

The former assistant state’s attorneys, Nicholas Trutenko and Andrew Horvat, have pleaded not guilty to the allegations and, according to their attorneys, are so eager to prove their innocence that they demanded a speedy trial at arraignment despite nearly 290,000 pages of evidence in discovery.

Their trial opens Monday in a northwest suburban courtroom, bringing to a head explosive allegations that stem from the case of Jackie Wilson and his older brother, Andrew, both of whom were found to have been tortured by detectives under disgraced Chicago Police Department Cmdr. Jon Burge’s supervision. The brothers’ allegations against Burge’s crew were among the first to be documented, helping expose systematic torture of Black men that took place for decades at the Area 2 police headquarters.

Trutenko, 68, who prosecuted Jackie Wilson more than three decades ago, is charged with perjury, official misconduct, obstruction of justice and violating a local records act in relation to his testimony at Wilson’s third trial, in 2020. Horvat, 48, represented Trutenko in that proceeding and is accused of official misconduct. The men have opted to have a judge — rather than a jury — render a verdict.

Lake County Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes was appointed to preside over the case because of the potential conflicts with Cook County judges who may have worked with or otherwise know the defendants. Several high-ranking members of the Cook County prosecutors’ office — including State’s Attorney Kim Foxx — are listed as potential witnesses. Foxx, who also testified during the earlier grand jury process, immediately fired Trutenko following his testimony at the 2020 trial.

Lawyers have debated how much of the Wilson case’s long, tangled history will be allowed during Trutenko and Horvat’s joint trial. Although special prosecutor Lawrence Oliver II said some related evidence is needed for context, defense attorneys have fought against allowing it, seeking to distance Trutenko and Horvat from the decades-old police misconduct allegations.

“Jackie Wilson’s story — saga — whatever you want to call it — is absolutely irrelevant here,” defense attorney James McKay, who represents Trutenko, said at a recent court hearing. “(Oliver) wants to put on a mini-trial to distract your honor from the charges here.”

Shanes is a former prosecutor who became a judge in 2007. A Republican rated “highly qualified” by the Lake County Bar Association, he was endorsed by the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police during an unsuccessful bid for the state Supreme Court last year.

The judge has said he plans to hold the trial on intermittent days because of his busy Lake County court schedule and other judicial responsibilities. The trial will be held just two days this week, then likely won’t pick up again until Nov. 6.

Shanes has delayed ruling on some pretrial motions that sought to bar certain testimony, instructing attorneys that “we’re just simply going to navigate the testimony as we hear it.” The no-nonsense jurist scolded attorneys on both sides during at least one of the more fiery pretrial debates, jokingly cautioning them he may restrict their caffeine intake during the trial.

“This is just me, no jury,” Shanes said. “No theatrics. No show. Just fact and law.”

Jackie Wilson’s case has taken many twists and turns over its more than 40-year lifespan, beginning with the fatal shootings of Chicago police Officers William Fahey and Richard O’Brien, who were shot by Wilson’s brother Andrew during a traffic stop. The patrol officers had just attended the funeral of a slain Chicago police officer that morning.

Jackie Wilson, then 21, was behind the wheel of the car and was accused of being the getaway driver. He has said he did not know his brother would shoot the police officers. In 1989, at Jackie Wilson’s second trial, a British con man named William Coleman with a long criminal history testified that Wilson had admitted his role in the crime while they were locked up together in the county jail.

A judge later determined Wilson’s attorneys were not fully informed about a deal given to Coleman in exchange for his testimony. The same judge also ruled that Jackie Wilson’s confession had resulted from torture and vacated his conviction, paving the way for him to be tried a third time.

The case blew up during that third trial amid allegations that Trutenko committed perjury while being asked about Coleman. Trutenko and the con man became friends after Coleman’s testimony in the 1989 trial, forging such a close bond that Trutenko later flew to England to serve as godfather at the baptism of Coleman’s daughter.

On the witness stand, Trutenko denied having discussed Coleman with special prosecutors prior to Trutenko’s testimony. Shortly after that, the special prosecutor handling the case announced he was dropping the murder charges against Wilson because the special prosecutor believed Trutenko had given testimony that Trutenko knew to be false.

Horvat, an assistant state’s attorney at the time, represented Trutenko while Trutenko served as a trial witness and is accused of being complicit in the attempts to conceal Trutenko’s relationship with Coleman. He left the prosecutors’ office in June 2021 for unrelated reasons.

Jackie Wilson, now 63, spent about 36 years in prison. He was issued a certificate of innocence in December 2020 and has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Chicago, several law enforcement agencies and related parties, including Trutenko, Horvat and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Dozens of current and former law enforcement officials have rallied behind Trutenko, raising more than $16,000 for his defense in a GoFundMe campaign, since his indictment was made public.

McKay has said Trutenko was a “dedicated and honest public servant” who is being wrongfully accused. Veteran attorney Terry Ekl, who represents Horvat, called the indictment “baseless.”

The trial will not have the transparency typically associated with Cook County’s highest-profile cases. Judge Shanes rejected Oliver’s suggestion that it take place in the Leighton Criminal Court Building, where the case was originally assigned and which has typically hosted the most significant Chicago proceedings.

Instead, Shanes is holding the trial at a satellite Cook County courthouse in Rolling Meadows, a suburb more than 30 miles away from the Leighton Building.

The defense teams did not object to moving the trial out of Chicago, but they did not lobby for it either. The move is unlikely to affect the trial’s outcome, as a jury will not be seated, but it removed the proceeding from the neighborhood in which the alleged crimes took place, making it less accessible to those in Chicago who may have long followed the case.

Shanes also has denied repeated media requests to record audio during the trial, another departure for Cook County cases involving criminal charges against law enforcement officials. He has said he will allow a still camera in the courtroom for the first two days of the trial, though he can rescind that permission at any time.

Shanes has declined to meet with reporters about media access. His spokesperson also declined to explain why the judge so far has denied audio recording during the trial.

“He doesn’t have to explain his decisions to anyone,” said Kasey Morgan, the circuit court spokesperson for Lake County.

The Illinois Supreme Court has given the trial judge sole discretion on the issue of photographing and recording hearings, but it also has encouraged the additional transparency as long as it doesn’t interfere with the “solemnity, decorum and dignity of the court.”

Lake County was among the earliest counties in the state to allow cameras in the courtroom.

And Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans has been a vocal advocate of cameras in the courtroom ever since the Illinois Supreme Court cleared the way in a landmark decision in early 2012. Under his tenure, several high-profile cases involving law enforcement — including the 2018 trial of former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted of fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald — have been broadcast live.

Evans’ spokesperson declined to comment on Shanes’ decision, saying she could not discuss an ongoing criminal case.

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The grand jury returned indictments against Trutenko and Horvat in December, but they weren’t unsealed and made public until March.

Oliver, the special prosecutor, has said the first witness he plans to call Monday is Lawrence Rosen, an attorney who was part of the special prosecution team in Jackie Wilson’s third trial in 2020. It was Rosen who investigated back then whether Coleman was available to testify.

Wilson told the Tribune he plans to attend the trial of Trutenko and Horvat, despite the long drive from Chicago.

“I think it’s only fair,” Wilson said. “They came to court for me. I should be there for them.”

Tribune reporter Madeline Buckley contributed.

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