Ex-Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge perjury conviction upheld CHICAGO, April 2 (UPI) -- A U.S. appeals court refused to overturn a perjury conviction against former Chicago police commander Jon Burge, who is serving a 54-month prison sentence. The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the conviction and sentence of Burge for lying about the torture of black suspects during the 1970s and 1980s at Area 2 police headquarters, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday. Burge, 65, was fired in 1992 but the statute of limitations prevented him from being charged with torture. A federal jury convicted Burge of obstruction of justice and perjury for denying in a lawsuit that he knew of the abuse and torture of criminal suspects. In its ruling on Monday, the appellate court called Burge a "liar" responsible for "decades of abuse that is unquestionably horrific." Judges Anne Claire Williams, Michael Stephen Kanne and Ilana Rovner said the trial judge made no errors and that Burge received a fair trial.