A man with a string of previous arrests has been sentenced to 4½ years in prison for attacking a passenger on the CTA Red Line in Rogers Park last summer.
Judge Carol Howard handed down the sentence after 26-year-old Martel Mason pleaded guilty to aggravated battery of a transit passenger. Prosecutors agreed to drop the robbery charge.
The case dates back to shortly after midnight on July 19, 2024, when a 22-year-old Evanston man was attacked on a train near the Morse Station. Four people surrounded him, beat him, pepper sprayed him, and stole his phone, credit card, and driver’s license. Police later released surveillance photos of the suspects.
An officer recognized Mason immediately, having arrested him just ten days earlier for another matter, prosecutors said. Detectives eventually tracked him down at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, where he was appearing on other pending cases.
In fact, mason had three separate cases already pending at the time of the robbery: a felony retail theft from 2023, a misdemeanor retail theft on the Magnificent Mile from March 2024, and a misdemeanor battery in Rogers Park ten days before the train attack. Court records show he has since pleaded guilty to the battery and one of the retail thefts. He received time served for those. The third charge was dropped.
Although Mason’s official sentence is 4½ years, under Illinois law he will only serve half if he stays out of trouble in prison. He also earned credit for time spent in jail awaiting trial. His parole date is set for January 19, 2027.
