Court advocates from the 20th and 23rd District were in court today:
"Six court advocates were there for the case. The court call was at 9am. Mr. King walked in shortly after 9, and sat and waited for his case to be called. Remember, Mr. King isA reminder that Mr. King is a free man while awaiting trial, and may be living in the men's shelter at 941 W Lawrence. Should you happen to see or encounter him on the street, our advice is to give him a wide berth. While he's presumed innocent of the crime for which he's accused, he has a history that has included violence and it's best to have no contact with him if you can avoid it. We'll keep you up to date on what the court advocates let us know about his current misdemeanor case.legallypresumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The case was continued and will next be called at Branch 46 at 555 West Harrison, where it will be assigned a court date and courthouse. Mr. King consulted with a court-ordered attorney and rejected the State's Attorney's initial offer of a plea bargain. He may be requesting a jury trial; I didn't hear that part very well.
As the court advocates got up to leave the courtroom, Mr. King, who had taken a seat directly behind us in the courtroom, said something like 'I'm on trial!' to several of us. Some of the court advocates said he gave them a threatening look as well. A Cook County court employee overheard this and told us to let the judge know. We did, and appeared before the judge, as did Mr. King. The judge then ordered Mr. King to have no contact with anyone involved in the case, including the court advocates, except for his lawyer.
I thought your readers would like to have an update on the case as it goes through the system."
That is a scary man.
ReplyDeleteHe's presumed innocent, not "legally innocent." Big difference.
ReplyDeleteA scary man who has nothing to lose because obviously going to prison does not bother him one bit. He is going to seriously hurt another person or maybe kill them this time, and then everyone will wonder "Why was this guy on the street?" He is one of the thousands of felons who should still be in jail for serious violent crime. But the State of IL can't afford to honor the sentence that was handed down by the criminal justice system so he gets out in half the time. Another reason that living in IL is a bit sad and scary.
ReplyDeleteFools like this deserve long term sentences in prison or long term care is some mental institution. Governors as P. Quinn that insist on early release of these type degenerates to roam the streets and put the public in danger need to be thrown out of office too.
ReplyDeleteYeah how could this guy pass a psych eval?. He is a sociopath and as such shouldnt have any freedom whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteThere has to be better evaluation of someone's violent tendecies. Just looking at this guy you can tell he has a massive chip on his shoulder and is looking for trouble.
Somebody should start a 7 strikes and you're out petition for a law to be passed that makes judges jail for life anybody who commits 7 illegal and dangerous acts.
ReplyDeleteUncontrolled loitering and panhandling are some of Chicago's biggest quality-of-life problems.
ReplyDeleteFor some insane reason panhandling is part of "freedom of speech" here and is protected. A delusional social worker "let me have it" when I described a clean cut, clean shaved young man with nicer clothes than myself setting up shop by my El stop. It was clear to me and anybody with half a brain that he was just conning people, but this woman said he was a person in need and he had every right to be in my neighborhood begging. I went on to say maybe we should set out some waterproof futons for the homeless to sleep on near the front door of my building and she half thought that was a good idea. This misguided attitude is pretty prevalent amongst the social worker profession which is why I like very few of them anymore.
They (the social workers) are the people wrecking our neighborhoods trying to mix in society's outcasts amongst the "normal".
Make no mistake, there are organizations here in Chicago that want every lazy person with no desire to work to have a free apartment, a steady check and free medical care. The amount of people that are truly disabled are much less than what is currently on the government's bankroll.
ReplyDeleteI urge all of you to find out who they are and oppose them politically and in any legal way you can.
Chub-a-lub, I'd be careful about lumping an entire group of social workers into promoting panhandling. As with any profession, there are some good ones, average ones, and lousy ones. The same holds true for people in your workplace.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting a petition online for 7 strikes and you're out; like California's three strikes and you're out. This is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteWell, sure there are good ones, like Thresholds. But when I tried to volunteer in Uptown, some of the people I worked with were nothing but massive enablers.
ReplyDeleteSign my petition:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.change.org/petitions/illinois-legislators-and-governor-pat-quinn-7-strikes-arrests-and-youre-out-law#share
The whole problem I'm having is hardly anybody takes the sort of people who say, live in the Lawrence House aside and say "Y'know, your lifestyle is totally unacceptable and I think we should withdraw our support until you stop doing drugs, robbing your neighbors, stop loitering 10 hours a day, etc etc."
ReplyDeleteBut everybody is so concerned about hurt feelings and butthurt in general nobody actually does. That's why I ended my relationship with two northside organizations because I had these kind of common sense ideas and they took issue with it.
The friggin circus that is cook county justice system has begun. Continuance upon continuance, which would be fine if this animal was held without bail, especially considering his violent history. Eventually a plea will be accepted. Or a charge downgraded. etc... Should put him up in Anita Alvarez's block.
ReplyDeleteFed Up,
ReplyDeleteI can assure you that as a Licensed Social Worker for the past 15 years I have indeed seen both good and bad professionals in my field. Just like I have seen both good and bad police, attorneys, politicians and neighbors. There is really no good way to ever say any profession has all good or bad people in it.
That being said it is important to point out to everyone that many many many people who think they can call themselves "Social Workers" should not be. Most of the people you come across at volunteer agencies are not Social Workers. They may be casemanagers, case aids social service workers, but these people are not Social Workers. A Social Worker has at least a 4 year college degree in Social Work, often they also have a Masters degree in Social Work. They also must pass an exams and have years of supervision to gain a State License. If you don't have a License you can not use the term "Social Worker".
Also agencies like professionals are also often not all good or bad. I work with Thresholds quite often. I have at times been disappointed by the level of professionalism and knowledge sometimes displayed by staff working for the agency. It disappoints me that so many would point to them as a "leader" in the field of mental health services. They are a politically connected agency with tons of state contracts but often have very poor results to show for them.
A comment I posted but was not approved basically stated a lot of people feel qualified to cure society's ills because they're so devoted to their religion.
ReplyDeleteThresholds is hit and miss but they're miles above some other places I can't name for fear of being sued. Needless to say those places clients make themselves a nuisance because of their unwarranted sense of entitlement.
The only thing I will say is the place seems to teach them to gatecrash anything and everything they're not invited to because they feel they deserve to get anything they want just because they feel they deserve it,
ReplyDeleteFed Up,
ReplyDeleteNo doubt Thresholds does more good than some agencies out there. I agree that some agencies, sadly do enable some problematic behaviors. Either because those trying to help don't know any better or don't care.
Our Alderman has taken criticism for using the phrase "Best Practices." But that is exactly what effective Social Workers try to use. That means we do our best to follow ethical and legal guild-lines for treatment using the latest research information as best we can. It is unfortunate that some agencies don't want to hear about them because they involve saying "no" to clients or asking them to leave the treatment setting. If a treatment program can't find a way to set limits with its clients, effective treatment often can is illusive. "Best Practices" give us permission to set those limits.
One agency I stopped volunteering for wanted me to open a Chase account, get the $100 bonus and then close it immediately to "show them who's boss".
ReplyDeleteSure, I want to do something to hurt my credit just to impress some activist.
Loitering and panhandling need to be criminalized, period.
ReplyDeleteIt really sucks to have to criss-cross any street I'm walking on several times because somebody is waiting expectantly on the corner.
Sure, I get extra exercise but they need to be shooed along.