On Tuesday, we told you about some recent murder cases that seem to conflict with the talking points some Cook County public officials use when they discuss public safety.
First, there’s Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ bold claim that “we haven’t had any horrible incidents occur” under his affordable bail initiative. (We’ve debunked that one many times over.)
Then, there’s this newer claim by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx :
The idea that individuals re-offend while released on bond is often used to explain violence. But, during the first half of 2020, of the 1,872 people arrested for a felony gun charge, only 1% of them (26 ppl) had been previously arrested in 2020 for an approved felony gun charge. pic.twitter.com/viWQhORNvL
— State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (@SAKimFoxx) July 9, 2020
As we reported Tuesday, Foxx is driving the re-offend statistic down by creating a tight window of opportunity for someone to get caught with another gun.
Here are a couple more cases that present stark contrasts to the claims made by Foxx and Evans. We’ll be telling you about many more cases like these in the days ahead.
2 gun cases and a murder – but they don’t count
In August 2019, prosecutors charged 23-year-old Michael Stidhum with felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon after cops allegedly found him with a gun in the Lawndale neighborhood.
Judge Mary Marubio allowed him to go home by posting a $200 deposit bond. He was later put on the court-operated electronic monitoring and instructed to stay home between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. The court’s monitoring system is separate from the larger program that’s operated by the county sheriff.
Records show he repeatedly violated the curfew twice in March and eight times in May — until cops arrested him for misdemeanor reckless conduct on May 31. He got out on a recognizance bond the same day.
Stidhum violated his curfew again the very next night and 16 more times during the month of June alone, according to court records. But officials didn’t do anything about it.
On July 16, Stidhum shot and killed 23-year-old Tavion Edwards as the man rode his motorcycle in Lawndale, prosecutors say. Patrol officers heard the gunfire and arrested Stidhum as he ran down a nearby alley. Cops said they found a gun in Stidhum’s pants.
Prosecutors charged Stidhum with first-degree murder and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He’s being held without bail.
Stidhum’s alleged repeated gun violation does not count in Foxx’s statistics because his pending weapons charge was before January 1, 2020.
Two affordable bails, then a murder
The spring and summer of 2020 were busy for 31-year-old Ricky Anderson.
Back on May 29, cops who responded to a shots fired call in the Washington Park neighborhood allegedly saw him grab his waistband and walk away quickly as they approached. Thinking he may have a weapon, they chased after him and patted him down. They didn’t find a gun, but Anderson allegedly battered an officer in the process. Prosecutors charged him with felony aggravated battery of a police officer and misdemeanor resisting. He went home by posting a $500 deposit bond.
Then, on July 14, homicide detectives saw a car that was used in a recent murder traveling in traffic on the South Side. They pulled the car over, and the driver got out. But Anderson slid behind the wheel and tried to drive away, police said. Cops managed to stop Anderson and took him into custody after he started to run away, according to prosecutors.
He was charged with felony resisting and he posted a $200 deposit bond to go home.
There was good news for Anderson this summer, too. On August 14, a judge found him not guilty on 2018 charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. It was the second time he had been acquitted of being a felon in possession of a firearm in two years, according to court records.
The good news ended less than two weeks later when cops arrested him on August 27. Prosecutors charged him with fatally shooting Dilonte McDaniel on July 9. It’s the same homicide that the detectives were investigating when they pulled that car over on July 14.