Despite the clear and obvious failures of Evans’ program, he refuses to either accept responsibility for those failures, or does he apologize for them. While he said that such stories are agonizing, it is not possible for judges making bail decisions to see into the future. Gee, not sure but isn’t past behavior the best predictor of future behavior? People, especially those with a criminal mindset, do not typically change their stripes overnight.
Evans says that the presumption of innocence is a foundation of the criminal justice system. That is, unless you are a legal gun owner and someone who has an axe to grind says you are a “threat.” Then, the presumption of innocence goes out the window. The same if you are a Supreme Court nominee where someone with a political agenda performs a character assassination on you for political reasons.
Some of the victims of Chicago Bail Reform are as follows:
- Among those victims were an off-duty police officer, John P. Rivera, who was shot to death in a case of mistaken identity. Two of the three men accused in his death were out on bond at the time, according to records.
- Jaylin Ellzey, 15-years-old was hit by seven bullets shot from a passing car in May 2019. His attacker, Antawan Smith had earlier been released on a $6,000 bond after police said they found him with a loaded semi-automatic handgun and six bags of crack cocaine following a car chase.
- Brittany Hill, 24, was fatally shot in the same month while shielding her toddler daughter from gunfire on the street. The shooter, Michael Washington had a long criminal history and was out on a no-cash, personal recognizance bond for resisting an officer and failing to appear in court. Hill’s father, James said that judges who make bail decisions are “living in a high tower” and don’t pay a price for their decisions.
Last year, just weeks before Evan’s re-election, CWB Chicago discovered issues with the report. When they raised the issues with Evans’ office, they said that the errors that were identified were innocent and a representative promised to provide them with an updated database. One week before the election, Evans’ staff cut off all communications with CWB and a promised corrected data set never arrived.
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