We've been following a story since January 2010 about a beating / hate crime that occurred on the Red Line involving a Rogers Park man and three Evanston men. (See here, here and here for past stories.)The verdict came down this week, and it's not one we had hoped for. From the Sun-Times:
A cell phone photo may have captured the punch of a gay Chicago man by one of three Evanston men accused of beating him on the CTA Red Line because of his sexual orientation.
But a Cook County judge acquitted the three Wednesday, questioning the credibility of Daniel Hauff, the victim who was cross-examined for about seven hours during the trial.
Read the entire article here.
At this point, it's really only newsworthy when the Cook County prosecutor's office *doesn't* screw something up.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't they just go for broke and charge 'em with grand theft El, too?
This verdict makes me choke, but I no longer expect better of the American justice system. Murderers are acquitted in both jury and non-jury trials constantly, and if the crime is something like theft or burglary resulting in relatively small losses, you're lucky if you can even get it prosecuted... unless you are someone like Target or Walmart.
ReplyDelete