PROBATION ENDS FOR DALEY NEPHEW IN KOSCHMAN CASE
Former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s nephew Richard J. “R. J.” Vanecko has completed his involuntary- manslaughter sentence for throwing a punch that killed David Koschman in 2004.
Maureen P. McIntyre — the McHenry County judge who handled the case after the Illinois Supreme Court decided too many Cook County judges have connections to the Daley family — terminated Vanecko’s probation Friday during a brief hearing in Woodstock.
After twice being cleared by the Chicago Police Department when Daley was mayor, Vanecko pleaded guilty on Jan. 31, 2014, following a Chicago Sun- Times investigation that led to the appointment of a special prosecutor.
Now 41, Vanecko was given a 30- month sentence — 60 days in jail, 60 days on home confinement and the rest on probation — for the crime he committed when he was 29. At the time of his conviction, he was living in Costa Mesa, Calif. It’s unclear where he lives now.
Vanecko’s exit from Cook County’s probation rolls follows Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration’s decision earlier this year to fire or suspend six police officers involved in a 2011 reinvestigation of Koschman’s death prompted by the Sun- Times’ reporting. That investigation concluded that the 6- foot3, 230- pound Vanecko punched the 5- foot- 5, 125- pound Koschman in self- defense outside the late- night bars along Division Street on April 25, 2004. Koschman, 21, died of brain injuries 11 days later.