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Chicago has a crime problem. And a criminal justice system problem that’s just as bad. In fact, the two go hand in hand as criminals feel emboldened by an utter lack of meaningful consequences to gun criminal behavior. A case this week exemplifies this perfectly.

A drunk father, holding a loaded, stolen 9mm handgun threatens his daughter. There’s even video of the dad pointing the gun at the girl. Thankfully, bystanders restrain the father. Police arrive, arrest dear old dad and confiscate the gun.

Meanwhile in bond court, Cook County Judge Susana Ortiz releases the dad with only a signature promise to return to court. And Cook County wonders why they have a persistent violent crime problem.

CWB Chicago has the story:

An Albany Park man who’s accused of threatening his daughter with a stolen handgun was released on a recognizance bond even though the daughter showed police video footage of the crime, according to police and court records. …

Police were called to the family’s home around 10 p.m. on July 8th after the daughter told a 911 operator that her intoxicated father pulled a gun on her during an argument. Arriving officers were led to a bedroom in the home where the daughter and her mother recovered a loaded 9-millimeter handgun as cops watched from the doorway.

According to police, the daughter showed them cellphone video in which the father is seen in their garage “menacing his daughter” with the handgun, waving the weapon in the air and yelling, “you want to see who the a**hole is?” The father was seen walking toward the daughter in an aggressive manner that caused unnamed witnesses to restrain him, police said.

The daughter said the father later pointed the gun directly at her after she stopped recording because her hands were shaking.

Police secured the gun and contacted the 52-year-old father who surrendered nearby without incident, according to court records.

This case is not an aberration.

CWB Chicago has posted a number of cases similar to this one.

Even worse, on those rare occasions when Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx actually prosecutes an offender and wins a conviction, the sentences frequently don’t involve jail time.

Examples? Try this story from CWB Chicago entitled, “Gun offenders get probation, but he went to prison for breaking ABC7’s camera equipment“:

Recently, 21-year-old Sheldon Graham was in front of [Cook County Judge Timothy] Chambers.

Graham had been charged with multiple weapons counts, including Class X armed violence and possessing a handgun with a defaced serial number after police said they found him with the pistol in a car on the Magnificent Mile last November.

He pled guilty to one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in a vehicle and Chambers sentenced him to two years of “first offender gun probation” and 50 hours of community service. Despite being charged with a Class X felony (the most serious crime category other than murder), Graham was allowed to go free after his arrest by posting a $500 deposit bond.

In theory, a Class X felony carries serious consequences in Illinois. In theory

From Criminal Lawyer Illinois:

The Class X felony is, short of first degree murder, the most serious felony offense on the books in Illinois. Upon a finding of guilt, the court cannot sentence the defendant to probation. The offense has a mandatory minimum sentence of 6-30 years in the Department of Corrections. The judge must sentence the defendant to prison. See 730 ILCS 5/5-8-1(a)(3).

However, in the real world (if Chicago qualifies as such), thanks to a sympathetic State’s Attorney, sentencing requirements are waived by allowing the offender to plead to a minor offense.

Here’s another case from the same story:

A Riverdale man who was found with a gun in his car during a traffic stop in Lakeview last December and allegedly told cops he carries a weapon “because it’s Chicago” was sentenced to one year of court supervision by Haberkorn recently. Valladay went free after his arrest by posting a $150 bond.

He carries a gun “because it’s Chicago.” Priceless.

But my favorite is this one:

Finally, there’s the case of Indianapolis resident Lapre Apple. A group of police officers who were standing in line at a West Loop fast food restaurant noticed that the man standing in front of them—Apple—had a gun with an extended magazine sticking out of his waistband.

The officers secured the handgun and arrested Apple, who said he had a concealed carry license in his home state, but not in Illinois. Police said they found 350 suspected ecstasy pills and $3,202 cash in Apple’s pockets.

Judge Steven Watkins sentenced Apple to 12 months of court supervision after the 21-year-old pled guilty to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Prosecutors dropped narcotics charges and three additional weapons charges in the deal.

An illegal gun, 350 ecstasy pills and $3200 in cash in the guy’s pockets. He claims he has a carry license, but can’t manage to produce it. And he gets court supervision as if he got a speeding ticket.

Welcome to Chicago. Where crime has no meaningful consequences for felons. But more gun control is always the solution.

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49 COMMENTS

  1. The problem is that the Illinois penitentiary system is overcrowded with former governors.

    • It’s sad but true. Headline from first google hit : “Of Illinois’ last seven governors, four have ended up going to prison”

      I honestly think that’s why Obama was so deeply corrupt and amoral – being most recently from Chicago, he just considered it to be normal.

      • Eric, seriously?

        W.T.F. are you using goggle for?

        The same goggle that “is DIRECTLY helping China’s People’s Liberation Army, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has told Congress on Thursday.”

        The same goggle that is going to silence conservatives?
        The same goggle that is going to eliminate gun owners?

        That’s the goggle you are using?

        • I never liked Google.

          I remember when all the wanna be cool kids marketed Google over Yahoo or other services just to be different. They started using all Google’s services and marketing them as if they were the best thing ever. Then they became dependent on Google for everything they did with a computer or online. They even put Google products in their home knowing they are designed to spy on them and use that information against them. They even wanted Google to become their ISP so they can get super fast and cheap internet.

          Google was setup for doing evil. They used to make fun of that fact by saying, “Don’t be evil.” Now that they have billions and untold amounts of political power, they are doing everything they planned long ago out in the open because you can’t stop them. They do the work governments of the world want them to do. They spend a lot of time doing high level mind control using all their products that people are not dependent on. Apple also is teamed up with them.

          You can’t escape Apple or Google. You use their stuff everyday if you own a smart phone.

          Google made Android and handed out to others to get huge amounts of people in their system. They even tried to make laptop makers adopt their system. They also have systems for cars.

          Governments rely on these tech companies to expand their control. Those tech companies were able to manipulate the people so much they are now fanboys of corporations like Google, Tesla, Apple, etc.

        • Well said User 1, big tech are the Robber Barons and Big Tobacco of our day. They are permanently damaging a generation with their intentionally designed addictive product.

        • “They started using all Google’s services and marketing them as if they were the best thing ever…”

          Schools were flooded with Chrome Books via grants and such..All the young people know is google..and yes its invading small Gov too.

        • I always use Duck Duck Go to google. Stuck with Android though. I figure Apple’s just as bad though, just more expensive.

    • Four total, but currently only one. Rod is currently in federal prison (housed in Colorado).

      He had a thing, and it was f*ckn golden.

    • Not crowded enough – they need to make room for the DA’s dept and anyone who ever allowed a plea bargain for using a gun in any felony crime.

  2. I betcha IF you’re the right pale color they throw the book at you…35 years ago I lived in Albany Park. It was chit then and overrun with Moose-lim’s. I can’t imagine NOW😫

    • Back in the day if you were a pale one you could kill a “darky” and get let off regardless that it’s very apparent you murdered that person.

  3. I lived in chicago for most of my life besides for a brief stint in NYC.
    After living there for 6 years married with kids we bought a house in skokie.

    I HATE Chicago. I hate the speed and red light cameras, i hate the taxes, i hate the crime. I hate Chicago. So glad Im gone.
    Next step is out of Illinois….

  4. Judging from most of your whining, you are just as big of a gun control freak as a Mad Mom.

    The first guy had stolen property and was committing assault, put him under the jail. The last two cases were violations of the 2nd, 4th, and 9th Amendments.

    • They aren’t a “third world” population. Those people are Americans. America is first world.

      The U.S. governments created this “third world” problem and continues to make sure it doesn’t go away because it helps them take control of everything/everyone, so they can turn America into a “second” world nation they own.

      The social engineers use supremacy/racism to make sure people do not work together to fix government created problems and raise strong independent conservative families.

      Its simple manipulation and profiteering. Like how corporations design a product intentionally “inferior” so you can still complain and are willing to buy the next offering as an upgrade. They realized they can make more money that way. You won’t ever get the best product from them they could produce… Next thing you know your drawer is full of stuff that you now consider junk. Yet their marketing still sells a lot of product to the masses.

      Humanity now has a lot of new technology but we are still the same humans from before. A few smart humans gave the rest of the humans all the tech they use. Sure, a dumb human can operate it, but they have no clue how to replicate it nor how it actually works. Most humans are still as dumb as the humans prior to all the technology advancements.

      Give a dumbass a gun, he will do dumbass things with it. Give a dumbass a pen, he will do dumbass things with it.

      Give either a smart or dumb person a government, they will do bad things with it. Give them a police force, they will do what previous humans did with their might. Give them a modern standing army, they will use it like early humans did with their group of men. Give them prisons, they will start caging humans like they did/do animals.

  5. This post from Boch seems a lot like an anti gun post sprinkled with some fascist mentality towards drug use and street capitalists selling property/product/drugs. Not only that but an argument for moving away from how the U.S. was originally designed.

    Selling/using drugs and owning weapons shouldn’t be a crime. Currently in some ways it isn’t. If you are licensed you can sell drugs via prescriptions and if you are licensed you can keep and bear arms.

    America was’t designed to be a fascist state where the government gives out permission and punishes those without that official permission.

    When the government outlawed a drug [alcohol] that action made America worse and it brought in one of the most dangerous/deadliest times for “law enforcement” in American history. These actions gave us things like Nascar, gun control and the war on drugs mentality.

  6. Carrying a gun in Chicago because it is Chicago is not a good reason to carry a gun in Chicago. “Because it’s Chicago” is a good reason to move elsewhere, to leave town, to evacuate with urgency, to make like a tree and leaf, to investigate life’s opportunities far, far, far away ….

    The gun thing is entirely besides the point.

    On the other hand the plea down for a lighter sentence game is helping Chicago be the “Because it’s Chicago” problem city it is.

    • That’s how the “western” justice system is designed. If you can’t find the person guilty with evidence you must let them go free, therefore, government will make a deal to make sure they get a guilty result.

      If a victim doesn’t want to press charges and the government doesn’t have enough evidence, the government is desperate to find anything to put on their record. If the victim could have just shot the criminal we wouldn’t be waiting for them to get caught for a major crime that will put them in a cage for life.

      That’s why I don’t like when “pro 2A” people say we should rely on insurance and government to make us whole again and bring us justice. I rather have my right to defend my life, liberty and property respected than rely on some corporation to give me back my money I was forced to give them and wait for government to fix society.

    • “Carrying a gun in Chicago because it is Chicago is not a good reason to carry a gun in Chicago.”

      It’s an excellent reason to carry a gun. Another perfectly good reason for carrying a gun is “because I am a free individual and it is my unalienable right to do so.”

      If I were in Chicago right now, I would be carrying for both reasons.

  7. Questionable legality? Yes. Impropriety? Perhaps. But nobody wants to acknowledge the the elephant in the room.

  8. So you guys now support state thugs arresting people for carrying what the state thugs are only allowed to carry?

    • “I carry a gun because it’s America.” “I carry a gun because it’s Chicago.”

      Both seem like good t-shirts and stickers.

  9. And yet when called out on it the politicians in cook county say there’s no problem at all with releasing violent offenders and the reason there are so many homicides is because the cops aren’t solving them enough.

    And it’s true that CPD has a pretty bad homicide clearance rate. But one wonders why it is that the police aren’t able to solve those crimes. Surely not because of a community that utterly refuses to cooperate with any investigation and politicians who are determined to depolice the city!

  10. Well we can all sleep better knowing that super dangerous tax cheat and loan application fibber, Paul Manafort was being held in solitary confinement while his trial plays out.

  11. Correct me should I be in error, but is not possessions a firearm with an altered or obliterated serial number a federal offense. Anyone check with DOJ or those good people at BATFE?

  12. Those are not even real crimes. Those are civil infractions trumped up to be treated as criminal offense.

  13. The new mayor of Chicago asked the governor to bail out the pensions because the city can’t pay.
    Motion denied.
    Next thing the mayor does is give the Chicago Teachers Union a 14% pay raise over a 5 year contract costing the state taxpayers an extra $325 million added to the debt.
    When such fiscal brilliance is displayed it’s little wonder the “common sense” gun control law claim can be believed. If you like your pension you can keep your pension.
    RRRiiigggghht ……

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