Tag: cook county
Don’t Blame Bail Reform For Spike In Violent Crime

Don’t Blame Bail Reform For Spike In Violent Crime

The Fourth of July is an occasion for the reading of the Declaration of Independence. But a better project might be the reading of the Constitution, a document that many Americans revere without fully understanding.

Among this group are many police officers, even though they take an oath to uphold it and are greatly affected by it in the course of their duties. One provision that sometimes gets short shrift is the Eighth Amendment, which says, "Excessive bail shall not be required."

That provision rests on the longstanding right of criminal defendants to be granted bail except when no amount would ensure their appearance in court — notably in capital cases. But for others, the right to be released before trial is implicit in the amendment. Denying bail, after all, has exactly the same effect as imposing excessive bail.

Some states, recognizing this fundamental liberty, have enacted laws ending the use of cash bail. The reason is that requiring a money payment leaves huge numbers of defendants languishing in jail not because they have been proven guilty or are deemed dangerous but because they are poor. The vast majority of them will show up in court without it, and judges can require electronic monitoring to make sure they do.

But bail reform has coincided with a spike in violent crime across the country, and some cops have said this is no coincidence. New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea decried his state's changes as a "challenge to public safety." When Illinois enacted a law this year abolishing cash bail, the head of the Chicago police union said it had "just handed the keys to the criminals."

The evidence for the charge is skimpy. Violent crime surged last year even in places that didn't reform bail laws, which suggests something else — such as the pandemic or the economic shutdown or both — was the real cause. And overall crime in the United States fell in the first half of 2020, according to the FBI — which is not what you would expect if hordes of unrepentant criminals were streaming out of the jails.

The opponents of bail reform miss some major points. Bail isn't supposed to guarantee that no one accused of a crime will commit crimes while awaiting trial. It's inherent in bail that some defendants will do exactly that. The only way to prevent it is to lock them all up before the government has proven they did anything wrong.

"This traditional right to freedom before conviction permits the unhampered preparation of a defense, and serves to prevent the infliction of punishment prior to conviction," the Supreme Court said in 1951. "Unless this right to bail before trial is preserved, the presumption of innocence, secured only after centuries of struggle, would lose its meaning."

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx understands this even if her detractors don't. In a videoconference Wednesday sponsored by the Illinois Justice Project, she noted that some people think defendants should be locked up even before being convicted.

"They missed the step in the middle, where we haven't actually gotten to a trial yet," she said pointedly. But "the presumption of innocence maintains with the accused until there's a finding of guilt."

The logic of those who oppose eliminating cash bail is that dangerous suspects shouldn't go free. But the only sure way to determine which ones are dangerous is to put them on trial. Besides, requiring monetary bonds doesn't keep the more dangerous defendants behind bars. It keeps the poorer ones behind bars.

Cash bail is a form of punishment that may actually generate more crime rather than less. Defendants who can't raise the money may lose jobs, homes, and custody of their children. Dooming these people to poverty and dislocation is not a formula for putting them on the straight and narrow.

In Illinois, as in many other states, judges may deny bond to defendants whom they find would pose a risk to public safety if set free. Getting rid of money bail doesn't prevent judges from simply denying bail to this select group. The right to bail is not unlimited.

But selling freedom only to those who can afford it is not a formula for fairness or safety. Our system of criminal law and justice rests on the presumption of innocence. The critics of bail reform prefer a presumption of guilt.

Steve Chapman blogs at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chapman. Follow him on Twitter @SteveChapman13 or at https://www.facebook.com/stevechapman13. To find out more about Steve Chapman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Judge Throws Out Charges Against Chicago Cop In Fatal Off-Duty Shooting

Judge Throws Out Charges Against Chicago Cop In Fatal Off-Duty Shooting

By Steve Schmadeke, Chicago Tribune (TNS)

CHICAGO — In a surprise move Monday, a Cook County judge threw out all the charges against a veteran Chicago police detective who was on trial for fatally shooting a woman during an off-duty incident in March 2012.

Moments before the defense was to put on its evidence in the bench trial, Judge Dennis Porter ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that Dante Servin acted recklessly, saying the shooting was an intentional act.

Under Illinois law, Porter held that a person who shoots a gun in the direction of an intended victim cannot be convicted of involuntary manslaughter but only first degree murder. Anytime a person points a gun at their intended victim and shoots, it is intentional act, not a reckless one, he said.

A chaotic scene erupted in the courtroom as a brother of the victim, Rekia Boyd, stood at word of Servin’s acquittal and shouted and cursed before the judge had stepped down from the bench.

Later, as Servin walked from the Leighton Criminal Court Building with about 10 off-duty Chicago cops flanking him, a crowd of about 40 exploded in anger while someone hurled what appeared to be a lunch bag at the officer.

Prosecutors had charged Servin with involuntary manslaughter, not murder, saying he acted recklessly when he fired five shots over his shoulder from inside his car in the direction of four people who had their backs to him in a dark alley.

His attorneys said Servin was in fear for his life after Antonio Cross, one of the four, pulled an object from his waistband, pointed it at the officer and ran toward his car.

Boyd, 22, was fatally shot in the back of the head. Police found only a cellphone at the scene.

Before he left the courthouse, Servin, 46, spoke to reporters, saying that he has always maintained that Boyd’s death was a tragic accident and offered her family “my deepest sympathies.” He blamed Cross’ actions for causing Boyd’s death.

“I need you to know that my family and I have also suffered greatly during the past three years, and we will continue to suffer,” Servin said. “This is something that I will live with for the rest of my life. My job is to save lives and protect people, and from an early age I knew I would be a policeman. And that’s why I became a policeman so this is a bigger tragedy.

“Any reasonable person, any police officer especially, would’ve reacted in the exact same manner that I reacted,” he said. “And
I’m glad to be alive. I saved my life that night. I’m glad that I’m not a police death statistic. Antonio Cross is a would-be cop killer and that’s all I have to say.”

Darren O’Brien, Servin’s lead attorney, said he cannot be retried for murder because of double-jeopardy protections.

The trial marked a rare criminal prosecution of a Chicago police officer for a fatal shooting. The race of the officer and Boyd — he is white and she was black — never became an issue in the trial itself, but it still hung over the proceedings, coming amid a public outcry in recent months over the deaths of unarmed blacks at the hands of white police officers in Ferguson, Mo., New York City, Cleveland and elsewhere. Testimony began a few days after a white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder after a cellphone video surfaced showing him firing eight shots at an apparently unarmed black man who was running from him.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger said the judge’s verdict reinforces the black community’s distrust of the criminal justice system and could hurt efforts to win more cooperation from the community to combat street violence.

“When I heard of the decision, I was angry and I was saddened for the family, and for us all,” Pfleger, who heads Saint Sabina Catholic Church on the South Side of Chicago, said in a brief telephone interview. “What it does is send a message that you can kill somebody and get off with it.

“And every time something like this happens, more and more people say the justice system is broken and more people say what is the point in going through the system?”

Defense attorneys have previously told the Chicago Tribune that involuntary manslaughter cases are typically ones in which a death resulted because a person acted recklessly by playing Russian roulette or firing a gun up in the air.

A veteran trial attorney at the courthouse had told the Tribune before the trial that he questioned why prosecutors had not charged the officer with murder for firing a gun into a crowd.

“Any poor, urban black of Hispanic people who behave that way are charged with first-degree murder,” said attorney Bruce Mosbacher.

Servin, a veteran of 24 years with the department, has been on paid desk duty since he was charged in November 2013. He would have faced up to five years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter, the most serious charge. He was also charged with reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct.

Boyd’s brother, Martinez Sutton, wept outside the courthouse following the abrupt end to the trial.

“This whole case was a slap in the face,” Sutton said.

(c)2015 Chicago Tribune, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

A small group of protesters marches on 15th Place near Kedzie Avenue in Chicago on Monday, April 20, 2015, after a Cook County judge threw out all the charges against veteran Chicago police detective Dante Servin, who was on trial for fatally shooting Rekia Boyd during an off-duty incident in March 2012, ruling that prosecutors failed to prove that the detective acted recklessly. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

79-Year-Old Judge Slapped, Spit On By Business Owner

79-Year-Old Judge Slapped, Spit On By Business Owner

By Steve Schmadeke, Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — A North Side Chicago business owner slapped a 79-year-old Cook County judge in the face, spit on her and called her “Rosa Parks” after becoming angry that she was smoking near him outside the Daley Center, authorities said.

Monday’s attack outside the courthouse came as a shock to friends of Judge Arnette Hubbard, a silver-haired African-American jurist who was the first female president of the National Bar Association and Cook County Bar Association, both black lawyers’ groups.

“She’s an icon in our community,” said Delores Robinson, past president of the Cook County Bar Association, who noted that Hubbard, a former commissioner on the Cook County Board of Elections, had been an international election observer in Haiti and South Africa and had long been a voice on civil rights and women’s issues.

Cook County prosecutors said Tuesday that Hubbard was outside the Daley Center smoking a cigarette when she walked past David C. Nicosia, 55, who became angry that she was smoking near him.
The two argued and Nicosia, who is white, stepped near her face and said, “Rosa Parks, move,” and spit in her face, prosecutors said. As he walked away, the Law Division judge followed him and called out for assistance.

Nicosia then turned and allegedly slapped the judge on the left side of her face with an open hand, prosecutors said. He was then arrested by sheriff’s deputies and charged with four counts of aggravated battery and a hate crime.

Judge James Brown ordered him held on $90,000 bail Tuesday.

Chief Judge Timothy Evans, whose offices are also in the Daley Center, declined to comment. A representative said judicial rules of conduct barred Evans from speaking about a pending criminal case.

Born in Arkansas, Hubbard graduated from Southern Illinois University and John Marshall Law School and began her legal career in 1969 working on civil rights cases, according to online biographies. As part of the city’s African-American power structure, she spent several terms on the city’s election board as well as the cable commission.

Hubbard was appointed to the bench in 1997, re-elected to a six-year term the following year and retained since in two more elections, most recently in 2010.

Nicosia, who state records show is president of an IT consulting business, has no prior Cook County convictions. His attorney did not return a message seeking comment.
Friends of Hubbard were left shaking their heads Tuesday.

“People of good common sense and decency, people of good hearts should be outraged by this,” Robinson said. “Not just because of who she is but that this happened to anybody.”

“I’m still in shock,” said longtime friend Geraldine Simmons, 75, also a past president of the Cook County Bar Association, who questioned whether deputies acted quickly enough.

Photo via WikiCommons

Interested in national news? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!

Judge Tosses Convictions Of 2 Men Who Spent 15 Years In Prison

Judge Tosses Convictions Of 2 Men Who Spent 15 Years In Prison

By Steve Mills, Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — A Cook County judge on Tuesday threw out the convictions of two men who spent close to 15 years in state prison for their alleged roles as lookouts in a double murder, bringing to a close a controversial case that hinged on a series of confessions that turned out to be false.

Lewis Gardner and Paul Phillips were the last of four men to have their murder convictions thrown out in connection with the November 1992 murders of two people in an apartment near Clarendon Park. Though they had served their time, they continued to fight to prove their innocence, an effort that gained hope after Cook County prosecutors dropped the case against one of their co-defendants, Daniel Taylor, last summer.

Taylor had been in a police lock-up when the crime occurred but nevertheless confessed to the murders. Taylor’s release paved the way for the release earlier this year of another co-defendant, Deon Patrick, and ultimately for Gardner’s and Phillips’ exonerations.

“I can’t cry because I’m at work,” Gardner, now 36, said from a Pizza Hut restaurant in Lake County where he works as a cook. “But the next step is to enjoy my life. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. It’s like a big burden has finally been lifted off my shoulders.”

Phillips, 38, was at home when prosecutors asked Cook County Circuit Court Judge Jorge Alonso to vacate the murder convictions. He said he was in tears when his attorney, Flint Taylor, called him with the news.

Phillips said he had struggled to find a job with a criminal record. “I’ve got tears in my eyes. It’s been a long, long wait. A long time,” said Phillips. “I won’t have to put felony on my jobs applications anymore.”

In all, Chicago police charged eight young men with the shooting deaths of Jeffrey Lassiter and Sharon Haugabook. Two had their cases thrown out before trial, and one went to trial and was acquitted. The eighth, Dennis Mixon, has acknowledged being involved and has said repeatedly the seven others were innocent.

The case suggests that Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors obtained seven false confessions — the most ever in one case.

Yet in spite of the evidence that Taylor was in the lock-up at the old Town Hall police station at Halsted and Addison streets — evidence the police and prosecutors had before trial — the administrations of former State’s Attorney Dick Devine and current State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez fought the case for years.

The Chicago Tribune investigated the case in 2001 as part of its series “Cops and Confessions” and found additional evidence that Taylor was in the lock-up when the murders occurred.

Since then, the newspaper has continued to investigate the case and has shown how what at first appeared to be the case’s strength — eight confessions in which each suspect implicated each of the others — in fact undermined it.

Photo: x1klima via Flickr

Interested in national news? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!