(MCT) — CHICAGO — In the eight years since her son was killed in a drunken confrontation with Mayor Richard Daley’s nephew, Nanci Koschman often felt powerless against the forces telling her it was all her son’s fault.

Chicago police said her son, David, was the aggressor. Cook County prosecutors insisted there wasn’t the evidence to charge Daley’s nephew, Richard J. Vanecko, with unleashing the fatal blow. She was warned that a lawsuit would be tied up in court for years. Grief-stricken, Koschman masked her doubts about the investigation and began the agonizing process of learning to live without her only child.