Chicago ? A Circuit Court judge shut down the Epitome restaurant and its upstairs nightclub, E2, on Tuesday, as city officials demanded that the judge jail the owner of the nightclub for at least a year, saying he was illegally operating the place when 21 people were killed in a stampede.

The city said Dwain Kyles had ignored a court order from last July to shut the place down because of building code violations that included failure to provide enough exits. City officials asked Circuit Judge Daniel Lynch to find Kyles in criminal contempt of court and put him behind bars.

“You don’t have a right to disobey a court order until someone catches you or until a disaster happens,” Mayor Richard M. Daley said.

Andre Grant, an attorney for the owners of the E2 nightclub, contended a deal had been reached in October to keep the place open.

City officials disputed that.

“There is absolutely no such agreement, either written or oral,” said Mara Georges, the city’s chief lawyer. “Obviously, these people were intent on breaking the law, and they broke the law.”

She said the city had done everything in its power to keep the nightclub closed in civil housing court.

However, Police Supt. Terry Hillard said Tuesday that police had been unaware of any order to shut down E2. He said he had even told officers to pay special attention to the location after crowd-control help was requested there.

The city also asked the judge to fine Kyles and his company, Le Mirage Inc., which owns the nightclub, and to fine a second company, Lesly Motors Inc., which owns the building.

The judge did not immediately act on that request. He said that he would give the two companies 10 days to respond.

Kyles appeared at the city’s legal office late Tuesday and accepted a summons to appear in court on March 7.