Tag Archives: local news

Judge delays sentencing for Hobos member groggy from meds

(CHICAGO) The near-certain prospect of spending the rest of his life in federal prison was weighing on Byron “B-Rupt” Brown on Tuesday, so he doubled down on his anti-anxiety medication before his trip to the downtown federal courthouse.

But it turned out the extra meds only prolonged Brown’s anxiety, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. Brown was still slurring and slightly unsteady on his feet as he stood in front of U.S. District Judge James Tharp Jr. six hours after taking the medication, so the judge postponed the sentencing a week despite protests from Brown and his attorney, Gregory Mitchell.

“This is going to be perhaps the most significant day in Mr. Brown’s life,” Tharp said. “I want to understand that he knows what is going on.”

Brown told the judge he took the medication because he was worried about keeping his cool in the courtroom.

“I didn’t want to be overactive,” he said. “I wanted to be as presentable as possible to calm myself. I have these outburst, these tantrums, sometimes.”

In the end, Brown stayed calm.

“I’m focused enough to go on,” Brown said softly, and in vain, to the judge, just before a marshal placed his hand on his shoulder and led him out of the courtroom.

It probably did not help that Brown has claimed to have misunderstood instructions he received in Tharp’s courtroom on the day he signed his plea deal.

In 2014, Brown was one of the first Hobos members to cut a deal with prosecutors, agreeing to a deal that spared him from a potential death sentence in exchange for his cooperation against other gang members. In 2015, he tried to withdraw his guilty plea and said he’d lied to the grand jury and did not want to take the witness stand at trial.

Tharp wouldn’t let Brown out of the deal, pointing out that Brown had been asked repeatedly in court if he was coerced or threatened into taking the plea deal at a court hearing in 2014.

Brown’s claim that he lied to the grand jury led to a flurry of motions by his co-defendants and triggered a clause in his deal that will all but certainly land Brown a mandatory life sentence. Had he kept his end of the deal, Brown, 32, would have received a 35- to 45-year federal sentence. Brown already is serving 25 years on murder charges in state court.

Six of Brown’s former co-defendants were convicted in December after a 15-week trial that did not include any appearances from Brown on the witness stand. Prosecutors linked the Hobos to eight murders and multiple shootings and robberies on the gang’s turf on Chicago’s South Side.

In his plea agreement, Brown admitted to being the triggerman in three killings: the 2007 execution of Eddie Moss, a semi-pro basketball player Brown mistook for a rival gang member, and Kenneth Mosby and the Daniel Dupree, whom Brown shot and killed less than a week apart in May 2009. Brown also said he was present at two other Hobo slayings.

Mitchell, who was appointed to represent Brown after Brown split with the lawyers who negotiated his plea agreement, said Brown had hoped to get his sentencing over with.

“He’s a thoughtful person, and he’s been thinking about this case a lot for a long time,” Mitchell said. “He’s not being flippant here. He’s very remorseful.”

Police seek to identify man found unconscious in Bucktown

Authorities are asking for the public’s help identifying this man, who was found unconscious Thursday morning in the 2100 block of West Charleston. | Chicago Police

(CHICAGO) Police are asking for the public’s help identifying a man who was found unconscious Thursday morning on a Bucktown neighborhood sidewalk on the North Side.

The man, thought to be in his 70s, was found unconscious about 6:10 a.m. on a sidewalk in the 2100 block of West Charleston, according to Chicago Police. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he is currently being treated in the Intensive Care Unit.

He is a white man between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-11, weighing about 130 pounds, police said. He has blue eyes, light complexion and is balding with gray hair.

Anyone with information should call the Area North Special Victims Unit at (312) 744-8266.

Woman, 2 children found dead in Lake in the Hills

(LAKE IN THE HILLS) A woman and her two children were found dead  in an apparent murder-suicide Tuesday afternoon in northwest suburban Lake in the Hills.

Just before 3 p.m., emergency crews were called for a report of an unresponsive person inside the townhome in the 2300 block of Daybreak Drive, according to Lake in the Hills police.

The home was “secured,” so firefighters broke inside, where they found three people dead, police said.

They have been identified as Carla Lopez-Mejia, 27; her son, 11-year-old Ezequiel Garcia; and her daughter, 8-year-old Ariana Garcia, according to the McHenry County coroner’s office. Autopsies will be performed Wednesday afternoon.

Preliminary findings suggest the deaths were a murder-suicide, according to the coroner’s office.

“This appears to be an isolated incident and at this point in the investigation, there is no known threat to public safety,” police said.

Sherman Memorial Today

By Jennifer Keiper, WLS-AM 890 News 
(SCHAUMBURG) Family and friends, today, will commemorate the life of well-known Illinois atheist Rob Sherman.
Sherman fought, in court, to keep church and government affairs separate.  He also hosted a radio show and ran for public office several times.
The 63-year old Poplar Grove resident died on December 9, 2016 when his small plane crashed in a farm field.
A memorial will be held today from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Schaumburg Regional Airport.