Less than a year after walking free from a life sentence for a 2003 double murder — a release that came after a scandal-plagued prosecutor championed his resentencing — Dante Brown is back in jail, accused of shooting a security guard in the neck last weekend during a Near West Side.
Brown, 40, was freed in August 2024 when Judge Michael McHale cut his life term to 20 years, crediting him with time served. His resentencing was pushed by then–Conviction Review Unit chief Michelle Mbekeani, whom McHale later accused of lying in court about her ties to a private company that connected inmates seeking resentencings with defense attorneys.
McHale found her in a “blatantly obvious conflict of interest,” barred her from his courtroom for life, and criticized then–State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for allowing her to remain on the case. Mbekeani resigned in June last year.
Now, under new State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, the same office that fought to set Brown free is trying to send him back to prison.
Another Shooting
At 1:07 a.m., on August 3, a 54-year-old armed security guard had just left work in the 2000 block of West Jackson Boulevard when Brown approached wearing a surgical mask and hoodie, prosecutors said in a detention petition. The guard was placing items into his car when Brown allegedly pulled a gun, ordered him to hand over his weapon, and threatened to “blow [his] head off,” the petition said.
The victim tried to de-escalate, but prosecutors say Brown fired, striking the guard in the neck. Nearly the entire incident was recorded on video, showing the men exchanging gunfire while bobbing and weaving around the guard’s car. Brown fell, got up, and ran away.
Prosecutors said the guard and a co-worker got into the victim’s vehicle and chased Brown. They confronted him in a parking lot down the street, where a second shootout unfolded.
Brown escaped over a fence, landing in the backyard of an off-duty Chicago police officer. That officer chased him down and detained him. Prosecutors say a .25-caliber handgun fell from Brown’s waistband as the police raised him to his feet.
The guard was hospitalized with multiple injuries, receiving stitches and a neck brace.
He is charged with aggravated battery by discharging a firearm, discharging a firearm during an attempted armed robbery, and possession of a firearm by a repeat felon. Judge Susana Ortiz on Monday granted prosecutors’ request to detain Brown pending trial in the new case. The Illinois Department of Corrections has moved to revoke his parole in the 2003 murder case.
From Life Without Parole to Freedom
Brown was convicted of a double murder committed when he was 19. His attorneys argued his confession was coerced, that he played a minor role in the killings, and that mandatory life sentences for “emerging adults” are now unconstitutional without considering mitigating factors.
McHale resentenced him to 20 years, enough for immediate release, and ordered three years of supervised release, plus lifetime registration as a violent offender.
The resentencing gained national attention after Mbekeani’s ties to a company called Period that matched inmates with defense attorneys were exposed. McHale accused her of being “duplicitous, incomplete, evasive, and untruthful” when questioned about the venture and said her conduct created an “appearance that something unethical is occurring” in Brown’s case.
In scathing remarks, McHale said Foxx “set [Mbekeani] up for failure” by allowing her to stay on the case, calling it “shocking” that she didn’t see the conflict coming.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
