CHICAGO — A Chicago man has been jailed to await trial after prosecutors said he viciously stabbed his ex’s new boyfriend last month while on bail for a pending felony gun case.
Hason Bardwell is the 23rd person accused of shooting, killing, or trying to shoot or kill someone in Chicago this year while awaiting trial for a felony. The cases involve at least 37 victims, 11 of whom died.
The events leading to the new allegations began on the evening of September 12 after Bardwell went to his ex’s home by invitation, according to prosecutor Sarah Dale-Schmidt. She said they got into an argument, and Bardwell punched the woman in the jaw and held her by the neck while hitting her.
At one point, he placed both hands around the woman’s neck and squeezed, constricting her ability to breathe, Dale-Schmidt said in court, according to an official transcript.
The woman managed to break free, and she eventually snuck out of the house with her children and met up with her current boyfriend at a nearby McDonald’s. Surveillance video shows Bardwell’s car pulling in front of the new boyfriend’s car and then driving away, Dale-Schmidt said.
Bardwell, 26, was at the woman’s apartment when she returned with her new boyfriend after dropping the kids off at school. He claimed the woman owed him money but refused to take payment from the new boyfriend and threatened to kill them both, Dale-Schmidt said.
He charged at the other man while brandishing a small pocket knife, which he used to stab the man multiple times in the face, head, and body, according to Dale-Schmidt.
The woman pulled Bardwell away from the other man, but Bardwell broke free, chased the man down, and continued the attack, according to the allegations.
Bardwell drove away before police arrived, but police found him after he showed up at a hospital to have a cut on his finger treated, said Dale-Schmidt.
She told Judge Barbara Dawkins that the male victim suffered ten puncture wounds to his face, eye, ear, shoulder, tricep, and back.
Assistant Public Defender Catherine Stockslager insisted that Bardwell “denies those allegations seriously,” the transcript said.
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“He was the one who was attacked, and we believe that there will be a matter of self-defense presented later in this matter,” Stockslager continued. She said Bardwell’s “finger was completely cut off by” the male victim.
Judge Dawkins wasn’t so sure.
“I am sitting here, and I can see that the defendant has a little bandage on his hand,” Dawkins remarked, according to the transcript. “I understand that it is his position that he was injured during these acts, but I do find, at least according to the state’s proffer, that his injuries are grossly, grossly outweighed by the injuries that were suffered by the complaining witness in this case. Ten puncture wounds, wounds to the eye, the back.”
He is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and aggravated battery by strangling.
Bardwell had been free on a recognizance bond since prosecutors charged him with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon on June 9.
During that bail hearing, prosecutors told Judge David Kelly that police responding to a call of a person with a gun found Bardwell sitting behind the wheel of a Jeep with a woman in the passenger seat. A loaded handgun was allegedly found under the driver’s seat.
Bardwell, who had a firearm owner’s ID card but not a concealed carry license, admitted to having the gun in the Jeep because another man had come around acting like he had a gun, according to CPD’s arrest report.
The “not horrible” series
This report continues our coverage of individuals accused of killing, shooting, or trying to kill or shoot others awaiting trial for a felony allegation. CWBChicago began our series of reports in November 2019 after Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans publicly stated, “We haven’t had any horrible incidents occur” under the court’s bond reform initiative.
The actual number of murders and shootings committed by people awaiting trial for felony allegations is undoubtedly much higher than the numbers seen here. Since 2017, CPD has brought charges in less than 5% of non-fatal shootings and 33% of murders, according to the city’s data.
Previous reporting
#6: Man killed 1, tried to kill another while on felony bail, prosecutors say (April 29, 2023)
#15: Hitman killed target while on bail for trying to disarm a cop, prosecutors say (July 22, 2023)
#19: 3 charged in armed robbery turned shooting in Homan Square (September 2, 2023)
