Saturday, October 24, 2009

Verdict Reached In Montrose Harbor Drowning Trial

In September 2007, a skinhead named John Haley pushed a Vietnamese fisherman named Du Doan into the waters of Montrose Harbor as a "prank." Mr. Doan, who was unable to swim and who was weighed down in the water by his fishing vest and boots, drowned. The 23rd District Court Advocates have been following this case through the judicial system for the past two years and were there today for closing arguments.

Mr. Haley's jury returned a charge of involuntary manslaughter late Friday evening, and he faces up to ten years in prison. The original charge was first-degree murder. Sentencing by the judge will take place on November 19th. Our sympathies go out to both the Doan family, which was devastated by the events of September 1, 2007, and to the Haley family, who've also done their share of suffering.

Read about the case as it happened in the Chi-Town Daily News. Read the story of the verdict in Chicago Breaking News and the Sun-Times.

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9 comments:

  1. Urban HayseedOctober 24, 2009 at 2:51 AM

    Shame on that jury. Involuntary? Some thug with a rap sheet sees an old guy fishing and minding his own business, so he decides to push him in the lake to drown, and it's an involuntary "joke?"

    According to the Sun Times, it was the same “joke” he allegedly pulled a month earlier on another elderly fisherman.

    Disgusting.

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  2. joeyOctober 24, 2009 at 4:54 AM

    This guy won’t wind up serving nearly 10 years. The attorney who got this murderer off the hook is Marc E. Gottreich. What I find puzzling is that Gottreich is wealthy enough to have sold off a home in Kenilworth last September for almost $900,000. It is doubtful that a person like Haley would be able to afford the fees that such a wealthy attorney would require. Someone had to dole out a lot of money for this injustice.

    By the way, I also find the demographics of Kenilworth interesting. Perhaps either Haley got the money from some type of political organization or Gottreich viewed his defense of Haley as a charitable act of public service.

    https://www.iardc.org/ldetail.asp?id=202327192

    http://chicago.blockshopper.com/property/05281030260000/605__brier_street/

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  3. ResidentOctober 24, 2009 at 10:03 AM

    So you're labeling this guy a "skinhead" because some people in the comments sections of the linked articles claim he's one?

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  4. AnonymousOctober 24, 2009 at 10:49 AM

    Resident, I followed the trial (as a court advocate) from the very beginning. The guy *is* a skinhead, admitted it at the time of arrest. So did the friends he hung with. Go back and read the articles in the Trib archive, starting in September, if you doubt this. BTW, I don't know what "people in the comments" you're referencing; I don't read them.

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  5. whoskiddinwhoOctober 24, 2009 at 11:01 AM

    Why was this not categorized as a "hate crime"?

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  6. AnonymousOctober 24, 2009 at 11:32 AM

    Whoskiddingwho, I can't speak for the police, but I know that hate crimes are hard to prove -- if he didn't yell any racial slurs, for example, it would be hard to classify as a hate crime.

    Resident, on 9-04-07, the Trib said: "The suspect identified himself as part of a movement known as SHARP, or Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice"

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  7. ResidentOctober 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM

    Alright then, I guess I didn't research this wayward dirtbag thoroughly!

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  8. Man On The StreetOctober 25, 2009 at 10:52 AM

    FYI: When this story first broke the guy and his friends identified themselves as skinheads, but skinhead doesn't automatically mean racist Nazi, etc. One of the guys in this group was black if I recall correctly. But the story also indicated that the suspect made some comment about the victim's nationality.

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  9. Man On The StreetOctober 25, 2009 at 10:53 AM

    Whoops, toniacita already got the info correct. Nevermind...

    ReplyDelete

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