Tuesday, May 14, 2013
On Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., 10 Cook County Jail detainees will go head-to-head against Russian counterparts in a historic first-ever international chess game.
America and Russia are classic rivals. The space race, the Cold War and the Miracle on Ice all stand testament to that. Now, thanks to a new Cook County program, we can add prison chess tournaments to the list. On Wednesday morning, 10 Cook County Jail detainees will compete in an online chess match against Russian Federal Prison Service inmates in a first-ever event of its kind. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Cook County Jail chess program head Dr. Mikhail Korenman will hold a press conference at 9 a.m. Wednesday with Russian officials via Skype. The games will then begin promptly at 9:30 a.m., inside Division 11 of the Cook County Jail. Patch published a preview of this concept last year. Here’s what some south suburbanites thought of…
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Two men were found unfit to face criminal charges this week.
Not one, but two men were found unfit to face criminal charges this week. For the second time in a month, Mark Lewis, 53, was deemed unfit to stand trial for the murder of his sister, who was found beaten to death in her Naperville home in June 2011. Lewis wants to act as his own attorney if the murder case ever makes it to trial. Also wanting to act as his own attorney—and deemed unfit to face criminal charges—was 40-year-old Jason Chance of downstate Lewiston. Chance already did prison time for menacing Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow through Facebook. According to a criminal complaint, Chance threatened to rape and kill the county's top prosecutor. After his release, Chance allegedly made harassing telephone calls to a judge…
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
County President Toni Preckwinkle is asking 1,500 inmates be transferred to home-monitoring, to prevent an overcrowding crisis, ABC7 reports.
Cook County Jail is nearly full to bursting. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is asking the detention center to reduce its 10,000+ population by 1,500 because there is not enough money to pay for them, ABC7 reports. At its current rate of admissions, the prison is poised to exceed its 10,150-prisoner capacity "within days." "The population I had today is what I'd normally have at the worst time of the year," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told ABC7. "You can't sustain that. My overtime budget is exploding right now, absolutely exploding. I'm already close to going through what I was supposed to do for the whole year." To prevent overcrowding, Preckwinkle proposes that by mid-summer, 1,500 prisoners be transferred to home …
Saturday, February 23, 2013
The week was packed with Drew Peterson, but it looks like we're not going to be seeing so much of him anymore.
It was Drew Peterson all day every day in the week that just ended. It started out with a hearing to see if he needs to have a new murder trial, and that hearing went on for another two days. A college professor and a retired judge both got on the witness stand and told how former Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky not only failed to provide effective counsel at this summer's murder trial, but also committed an ethical violation by entering into a publicity contract with his client. Brodsky's former law partner got up as well and claimed Brodsky physically attacked her in the Chicago office they shared. Even Brodsky had to testify, and told all about the 11 cents he and Peterson made off a website set up to solicit donations for the disgraced …
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Drew Peterson is either getting a new trial or he's heading to prison.
On Tuesday, the attorneys for Drew Peterson will make a final push to keep him out of prison by securing a new murder trial. Will County Judge Edward Burmila has set aside two days for the hearing, but some involved predict it will last much longer. If, at the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Burmila decides against calling for a new trial, he plans to head straight for sentencing. During the week that just ended, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow took steps to avoid having to testify at Peterson's hearing. Glasgow filed court papers claiming that, as a prosecutor, special steps must be taken to force him to testify. He maintains Peterson's attorneys have failed to take those steps. That is just one of many issues to be addressed …
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Reginald Taylor, 47, of Chicago has pleaded not guilty to felony charges in two separate armed robbery cases and was given a $500,000 bond.
A Chicago man charged with robbing at least two area Radio Shack stores has pleaded not guilty. Reginald Taylor, 47, was apprehended in Oak Lawn after holding police at bay with a handgun was charged with robbing the Frankfort Radio Shack. He had already faced robbery charges in connection with a Nov. 7 stickup at the Radio Shack on Harlem Avenue in Palos Heights. Taylor has two cases with several felony charges, including armed robbery, being an armed habitual criminal possession/use of a weapon by a felon, aggravated robbery and aggravated unlawful restraint. Cook County Judge John J. Hynes issued a $500,000 bond in the new cases when Taylor appeared in court on Thursday, Dec. 19. Taylor's most recent arrest was in violation of parole…
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The same Chicago man allegedly robbed two different Radio Shacks in a week before holding police at bay during an hour-long standoff.
An ex-con apprehended in Oak Lawn after holding police at bay with a handgun was charged with robbing the Frankfort Radio Shack. Reginald Taylor, 47, of 7121 S. Harvard Ave. in Chicago already faced robbery charges in connection with a Nov. 7 stickup at the Radio Shack on Harlem Avenue in Palos Heights. In that robbery, Taylor allegedly waited for customers to leave the Palos Heights Radio Shack and locked the store's front door. He then reportedly brandished a handgun, demanded cash and absconded with what employees gave up. Taylor headed from Palos Heights to Oak Lawn, where he went into another Radio Shack, police said. An employee of that store recognized Taylor and somebody called the cops. Taylor fled but officers cornered him in the…
Ryan Fitzpatrick
11:44 am on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
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