Steve SchmadekeContact ReporterChicago Tribune
Moments after Cook County prosecutors announced indictments against four people on charges of attacking a teen with mental disabilities live on Facebook video, the county's public defender blasted "sensationalized" media coverage that she said has led to death threats against the defendants as well as their lawyers.
In an extraordinary move, Judge Peggy Chiampas barred courtroom sketch artists from drawing the faces not only of defendants Jordan Hill, Tesfaye Cooper and sisters Tanishia and Brittany Covington but also their attorneys, citing safety and security risks. A day earlier, the judge had rejected allowing cameras to record the hearing.
Public Defender Amy Campanelli said outside court that "it is sad and unfortunate" that the case has provoked widespread comment from people who didn't know "all the facts."
The case drew national outrage, including from some who attempted to link the attack by four African-Americans on an 18-year-old white man to the Black Lives Matter movement without evidence.
"Sensationalized, pervasive media coverage threatens to poison the jury pool for my clients," Campanelli said, though trials in high-profile cases at the Leighton Criminal Court Building can take years to take place. "They have already been denounced in the media before anything has been proven.
"Worse, these are young people who should not be held in jail but are being held without bond because they have been prejudged," she said. "We will be seeking their release from jail."
Prosecutors did not make public what was in the indictment, but in an earlier criminal complaint, Hill, 18, of Carpentersville; Cooper, 18, of Chicago; and Brittany Covington, 19, and her sister Tanishia, 24, were each charged with aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Police allege Hill met with the victim, a classmate in Aurora, Dec. 31 at a McDonald's in suburban Streamwood and drove him to an apartment on Chicago's West Side. The 28-minute live-streamed video showed the group punching and kicking the victim, cutting his scalp and hair with a knife, and forcing him to drink toilet water.
The defendants could be heard yelling on the video "F--- Donald Trump" and "F--- white people" as the victim crouched in a corner, his mouth taped shut, hands and feet bound with what appeared to be orange electrical tape.
At a hearing Thursday to decide if cameras would be allowed in the courtroom, lawyers for each defendant objected, citing concerns over safety and the possibility of inhibiting a fair trial.
Neil Toppel, an assistant public defender for Brittany Covington, cited a Tumblr post calling for the "public execution" of the defendants and anyone who supported them.
"To me it sounds like someone put out a death warrant," Toppel told reporters after the hearing.
Prosecutors have said in court that the 18-year-old victim has schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and lives with his parents in suburban Streamwood.
Campanelli pledged Friday to "zealously" represent the four, starting with seeking to reduce their bail after the case is assigned to a trial judge.
sschmadeke@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @SteveSchmadeke
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