Chicago — Just five weeks after being paroled for a 2003 murder case, Donald Wilson is back in jail. Prosecutors said Chicago police found a loaded firearm in his car during a traffic stop on Sunday. He allegedly told the officers he “had the gun for about two weeks.”
During Wilson’s bail hearing on Monday, Assistant State’s Attorney Alexander Konetzki said that Wilson was released from prison on April 27 after serving a 20-year sentence for first-degree murder.
Wilson and five accomplices “ambushed” their victims during a gang turf war on June 26, 2003, according to Konetzki. The shooting left two people dead and a third injured.
Sunday evening, five weeks after he walked out of prison, Chicago police pulled Wilson over in the 1700 block of East 67th Street because his license plate was not illuminated, Konetzki said.
The officers heard Wilson tell someone on the phone to “have a lawyer on standby” before they discovered a loaded 45-caliber firearm under his driver’s seat, according to Konetzki.
After being advised of his right to remain silent, Wilson allegedly told officers that he “had the gun for about two weeks.”
Konetzki urged Judge David Kelly to hold Wilson without bail because “the last time the defendant was in possession of a firearm, two victims ended up dead, one victim seriously injured.”
Wilson’s defense lawyer pooh-poohed that idea.
“I would argue that Mr. Wilson’s own statement indicates that he had a firearm for the last two weeks, and there’s no allegation that he’s been murdering anybody for the last two weeks,” the attorney posited. And, said the lawyer, Wilson has not been accused of any violence since the murder.
Konetzi countered that “there are no allegations the defendant has been engaged in any acts of violence since 2003 because he’s been in custody since that time… until five weeks ago.”
Ultimately, Judge Kelly granted the state’s no-bail motion. Wilson, now charged with Class X armed habitual criminal, is also being held without bail while state officials review his parole status.
In 2002, Wilson was convicted of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm for hitting a school student in the face with a fire extinguisher after she made a comment he “found to be disparaging.”