Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and the county’s chief judge, Timothy Evans, have repeatedly smacked down criticism that the courts are releasing people accused of violent crimes back onto the streets or sending them home on electronic monitoring. Much of that criticism has come from Chicago Police Supt. David Brown.
Preckwinkle and Evans insist that the individuals who are released don’t contribute to increasing crime.
Recently, several people have been charged with new felonies while awaiting trial for allegedly murdering or shooting people, sometimes while on electronic monitoring. Here are some examples:
In and out and in and out and Indianapolis and in again
Kenneth Teague is not charged with murder or attempted murder, but he is charged with shooting someone.
Last November 17, prosecutors accused Kenneth Teague of shooting into an occupied vehicle in the suburbs and striking one victim. A bond court judge ordered him to pay a $50,000 deposit to get out of jail. One month later, Judge Ramon Ocasio changed that to $15,000 with electronic monitoring, court records show. Teague walked out of jail the next day.
Police executed a search warrant at Teague’s home on February 26 and allegedly found 206 oxycodone pills in the living room, narcotics packaging, scales, cash, and ammunition magazines. Prosecutors only charged him with the narcotics, though. His private defense attorney argued that two other people in the house might be responsible for the alleged contraband.
Judge David Navarro ordered Teague held without bail for violating bond in the shooting case and ordered him to pay $500 to get out of jail on the new charges. Two days later, Judge Ocasio reduced the no-bail hold to $1,500 cash, and Teague went back home on electronic monitoring the same day, court records show.
Ocasio also allowed Teague to travel to Indianapolis while on electronic monitoring to perform at a rap show in June with a man who was fighting his own gun and drug charges, according to court records and online accounts.
Maywood police raided Teague’s home again on September 30 after “receiving complaints and concerns of drug activity near Rock of Ages Church” and a child daycare center, according to the department’s Facebook page.
“Investigators recovered more than 200 Oxytocin pills and small denominations of cash, totaling $2,000,” the police department said.
Teague appeared before Judge David Navarro again. And, once again, Teague’s private defense attorney argued that there were other people in the home at the time of the raid and police never saw Teague touching or handling the drugs. Navarro once again ordered Teague held without bail for violating bond terms in the gun case and ordered Teague to post another $500 to get out on the new narcotics charge.
So far, Judge Ocasio hasn’t set Teague free.
A flying sweater
Prosecutors say that Amos Walker and an accomplice shot a man during a drive-by on the West Side in February 2019. The state charged Walker, who was on parole for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon at the time of the shooting, with aggravated discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and three counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. A judge initially ordered him held without bail.
In October 2020, Judge Domenica Stephenson agreed to let him go home on electronic monitoring by posting a $10,000 deposit “due to the COVID-19 crisis,” Assistant State’s Attorney John Gnilka said as he recently announced new allegations against Walker.
According to Gnilka, law enforcement officers went to Walker’s home on September 22 after receiving a tip that he had guns in the house while on electronic monitoring. As officers were entering, someone threw an object out of one of the home’s windows. It turned out to be a red sweater wrapped around an unloaded 9-millimeter handgun equipped with a switch that would allow it to generate automatic gunfire, Gnilka Said.
In one bedroom, police found Walker’s state ID in a wallet, his GPS unit in the closet, and two 40-caliber ammunition magazines, one of which was loaded, according to Gnilka. Another 9-millimeter handgun was allegedly found elsewhere in the home.
Prosecutors charged Walker, 23, with unlawful use of a weapon — a charge he has been convicted of twice before, according to Gnilka.
Judge David Navarro ordered Walker held without bail for violating bond in the shooting case. The judge set bail in the new gun case at $50,000, meaning Walker would need to post $5,000 to get out of jail if he becomes eligible for release. So far, he’s remained in jail.
Rogers Park
Prosecutors say Deandre Loveless and another man opened fire on a car in Rogers Park in 2015, intending to shoot a man who was inside. Instead, the bullets allegedly struck the woman who was driving the vehicle.
Loveless and the other man were initially charged with attempted murder, but that was upgraded to first-degree murder when the woman died from her injuries last year.
Loveless, 27, was held without bail until Judge Thomas Hennelly agreed to reduce bail to $200,000 on February 17. Loveless walked out of jail the same day after posting a 10% deposit, court records show. Hennelly did not require him to go onto electronic monitoring, either.
Police arrested Loveless again on September 30 after allegedly seeing him sell drugs on a Rogers Park street corner. Prosecutors said he had a baggie containing suspected crack in his waistband along with $233 cash.
He is now being held without bail.