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By Fran Spielman
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — Mayor Daley is urging Iowa’s governor to pardon Chicago Police Officer Michael Mette, who has sat in an Iowa prison for nearly a year for punching a man who repeatedly attacked him outside a 2005 party in Dubuque.
“Mr. Mette’s response to the physical assault he experienced was not premeditated, but merely a matter of self-defense in reaction to a very real threat,” Daley wrote to Gov. Chet Culver.
Bob Mette, the officer’s father, welcomed Daley’s letter and said he hopes it will succeed where similar appeals to Culver have failed.
State’s Attorney Richard Devine, Police Supt. Jody Weis, former Supt. Phil Cline and Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue all have written to Culver seeking a pardon for Mette, 31.
“I appreciate it. So does Mike,” said Bob Mette, a former Chicago Police officer who is now a supervising investigator in the state’s attorney’s office. “Mayor Daley is one of the most powerful politicians in the country. Maybe the governor of Iowa will pay a little bit more attention. He hasn’t paid attention to anybody else’s letters. The way I look at it, every little bit helps.”
Michael Mette was in Dubuque to celebrate his brother’s 25th birthday when he got into the altercation. Supporters say Mette tried to avoid a fight with Jake Gothard and threw a single punch that fractured his nose, cheek and jaw only after Gothard followed him out of the party and pummeled him repeatedly.
“He got attacked by a guy who hit him three times and came back to hit him a fourth, and that’s when he punched him. . . . For that, he’s sat in a jail cell for almost a year now,” Bob Mette said.
An Iowa appeals court is expected to decide soon whether to overturn Michael Mette’s conviction or order a new trial after a Sept. 11 hearing that drew busloads of Mette’s fellow officers. For them, the Mette case has become a cause celebre.
Copyright 2008 The Chicago Sun-Times