No Bail For 4 Charged In Live-Streamed Hate Crime & Kidnapping
By Stephen Gossett in News on Jan 6, 2017 8:40PM
Chicago Police Department
The two men and two women charged with hate crime and kidnapping, among other offenses, in an attack on a schizophrenic man that broadcast live on Facebook were denied bail by a judge at a bond court hearing in Chicago on Friday afternoon, according to news reports.
"I'm looking at each of you and wondering where was the sense of decency that each of you should have had?" said Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil. "I don't see it."
No bail for 4 defendants in Chicago torture case. Judge: "Where was the sense of decency? I find each of you a danger to yourself & society.
— Andy Grimm (@agrimm34) January 6, 2017
Jordan Hill, 18, of Carpentersville; Tesfaye Cooper, 18; Brittany Covington, 18; and Tanishia Covington, 24, each face charges of aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Cooper and Brittany Covington are also charged with residential burglary; and Hill faces charges of robbery, residential burglary and possession of a stolen vehicle.
The grandmother of two of the suspects nodded in agreement when the judge questioned their decency, Tribune reporter Will Lee Tweeted. The mother of the victim cried out "yes" when the judge ordered the four held without bond, Lee also Tweeted.
The four were formally charged on Thursday. Police superintendent Eddie Johnson called the incident "brutal" and "sickening" at an arrest announcement on Wednesday. President Obama called the incident "despicable" in an interview with CBS2 on Thursday.
The video—which was first streamed live on Facebook then heavily circulated on social media Wednesday evening—shows the victim with his mouth taped and hands bound while his scalp and sweatshirt are cut with a knife. At least one offender is heard shouting, "fuck white people" and "fuck Donald Trump. The victim is also seen being forced to drink toilet water in another video.
The group tried to extort the victim's mother for a $300 ransom, prosecutors alleged. One defendant allegedly said, "I don't give a fuck if he is schizophrenic," the Sun-Times reports.
Prosecutors reportedly said in court on Friday that hate crime charges were based on both the victim's disability and race. When asked which aspect was the motivating factor in pursuing hate crime charges, Police Commander Kevin Duffin said at a Thursday briefing it was "six of one, half dozen the other."