Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office recently told Crain’s reporter Greg Hinz that it could not identify the people on electronic monitoring for murder or attempted murder in the city — or the judges who put them on EM — because the mayor’s office didn’t have access to court files.
So, CWBChicago reviewed the court files. Here’s part four of our report about who the defendants are, what prosecutors accused them of doing, and which judges ordered them to go onto electronic monitoring if they posted bail.
We decided to look only at cases involving crimes alleged to have occurred in the city by defendants who were placed on electronic monitoring within the past year, regardless of when the crime occurred. That’s 35 cases. We use the defendants’ initials for domestic incidents to protect the victims’ identities.
It is not clear why Lightfoot has decided to focus on these individuals rather than people accused of similar charges who have are on bond without electronic monitoring.
J.R., 18, Attempted First-Degree Murder
Assistant State’s Attorney John Gnilka needed three minutes during a bond court hearing this autumn to explain everything J.R. allegedly did to his pregnant 17-year-old girlfriend during a physical attack that the victim said lasted up to half an hour.
After the girl’s cat knocked something over in his apartment, J.R. hit the teen, suffocated her, shoved her into a couch, and broke the TV by pushing her into it, Gnilka said. He dragged her into a bedroom closet, where he beat her and suffocated her until she urinated on herself, dragged her into a bathroom, and kicked her as she lay on the floor, unable to move, Gnilka continued. While she was incapacitated, she could hear the man choking her cats.
He returned to the bathroom with a mop, which he used to hit her before he placed a hammer around her neck and used it to lift her off the ground, Gnilka alleged. J.R. allegedly put her down after she started to black out from a lack of oxygen.
Next, he dragged her back to the bedroom closet, threw the mop at her, and told her to clean up her “mess,” Gnilka alleged. Another suffocation attempt followed, he said. When the woman finally got up, J.R. punched and kicked her to the ground, then stepped on her stomach and stomped on her chest, Gnilka continued.
Eventually, the woman was able to slip out of the apartment when J.R. took a break to look at his phone. She ran door-to-door looking for help until a woman let her use a phone to call her mom. The girl’s mother took her to a hospital for treatment. Police said they could see cuts and bruises on the victim’s face and body.
Judge Kelly McCarthy, who said the allegations “sounded like a pretty lengthy beating occurred for little or no reason,” denied the state’s request to hold J.R. without bail. Instead, she set bail at $100,000 and ordered him to go onto EM with a GPS device upon posting a 10% deposit. He did that two days later, according to court records.
Shanice Page, 28, First-Degree Murder
Prosecutors said Shanice Page shot and killed her 26-year-old boyfriend, Chaseton Walker, in their apartment on April 2, 2019. Page, who was pregnant with their child at the time, reportedly told police that Walker collapsed upon returning home, according to a Sun-Times story.
But a woman who was romantically involved with both Page and Walker told authorities that Page shot Walker after an argument over a set of keys, the paper reported.
Page’s attorney said she had never been arrested while Walker had been paroled on an attempted murder charge just a few months before being killed.
Judge Stephanie Miller ordered Page held without bail on April 5, 2019. Two months later, Judge James Linn reduced her bail to $500,000, which requires a deposit of $50,000, and ordered EM as a condition of bail.
Genove Martin, 19, First-Degree Murder
Genove Martin “kind of shot over his shoulder” at a passing car and accidentally killed his friend who was walking behind him, 17-year-old community activist Caleb Reed, in West Rogers Park on July 31, 2020, prosecutors said.
Reed was widely admired for his work as leader of Voices of Youth in Chicago Education. And Martin’s attorney said Martin was also active in community service as he prepared for college.
Prosecutors said a Chevy Malibu rolled down the 1900 block of West Granville as Martin, Reed, and two companions were walking. Martin looked over his shoulder at the car as it pulled to a stop, pulled out a gun, and shot toward the vehicle, according to the allegations.
Martin allegedly turned and fired one more shot over his shoulder as the group started running away. The bullet hit Reed in the forehead. Prosecutors did not allege that Martin intended to kill Reed.
Judge John Lyke set bail at $300,000 on September 1, 2020, and The Chicago Community Bond Fund posted Martin’s $30,000 deposit to get him out of jail on October 20, 2020, according to bail records.
Prosecutors, who weren’t expecting Martin to get out, filed a motion to hold Martin without bail on December 11, 2020. But Judge Angela Munari Petrone denied their request. Instead, she put Martin on EM with explicit instructions to be in the house 24 hours a day, according to court records.
Extras
While doing unrelated court research, a CWBChicago writer happened to come across a couple of other defendants who have been on EM for attempted murder charges beyond the one-year window we’ve established for our series:
Thomas Tansey, 32, First-Degree Murder
Thomas Tansey is accused of stabbing Kenneth Paterimos Jr. to death outside Richard’s Bar, 491 North Milwaukee, in early 2020.
Bar staff ejected Tansey after he fought with Paterimos, but prosecutors said it was unclear who started the fight. Paterimos followed Tansey outside and they physically fought again, according to the allegations. As a bystander pulled Paterimos off of Tansey, Tansey drew a box cutter and stabbed the 23-year-old repeatedly, prosecutors said. One of the cuts severed an artery in Paterimos’ arm, causing him to bleed to death.
Judge Charles Beach rejected a self-defense argument put forth by Tansey’s attorney during an initial bond hearing and ordered him held without bail. At a routine follow-up hearing about two weeks later, Judge John Lyke reduced Tansey’s bail to $250,000 on March 23, 2020, and ordered him to go onto EM upon posting the required 10% deposit.
Aamir Mohammed, 32, Attempted First-Degree Murder
Employees of Ms. T’s Southern Fried Chicken, 3343 North Broadway, called police around 6:18 p.m. May 15, 2020, after Aamir Mohammed allegedly kicked the restaurant’s door when they asked him to practice social distancing while waiting for an order.
Bijan Early, 24, and the restaurant’s owner — Early’s mother — followed Mohammed to his car and stood near the vehicle to keep him from leaving, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said.
Mohammed threatened to run the women over moments before he drove into Early and dragged her for 20 to 30 feet with her body on the hood of his car and her legs underneath, according to Murphy. He allegedly slowed the car until Early fell off, then accelerated and drove over Early as he sped north on Broadway. The confrontation and collision with Early were captured on video.
She underwent surgery to repair a broken pelvis.
Mohammed turned himself in at the 19th District police station Saturday night. He subsequently told officers that “he’s been driving for years without a license,” according to Murphy.
He was initially charged with multiple counts of aggravated battery, failure to report an accident involving injury, and driving-related misdemeanors.
Judge Mary Marubio set bail at $5,000 and imposed EM as a condition of release, court records show. A grand jury later added attempted murder charges.
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Previous reporting
- Who are the accused murderers and attempted murderers on electronic monitoring? The mayor says she doesn’t know. So, we found out. (January 13, 2022)
- Outraged about alleged murderers being on electronic monitoring, politicians propose a new law — but it doesn’t do what they think it does (January 13, 2022)
- Who are the accused murderers on electronic monitoring in Chicago? Take a look. Part 3. (January 14, 2022)
