The person accused of throwing a Large Gulp filled with root beer on former Cook dinner County State’s Legal professional Kim Foxx throughout a street rage altercation close to her Flossmoor residence was discovered responsible of 1 felony and never responsible of one other on Monday morning.
Prosecutors charged William Swetz, 35, with aggravated battery in a public place and aggravated assault with a motorized vehicle following the June 2024 incident. He took the case to a bench trial final month.
On Monday, Decide Tiana Blakely discovered Swetz responsible of the battery cost however not responsible of vehicular assault, in keeping with courtroom information. She set a January 8 listening to for post-trial motions.
The Illinois Legal professional Basic’s Workplace dealt with the prosecution throughout Swetz’s two-day bench trial on the Markham courthouse.
Foxx, who was strolling alongside the sting of the roadway on her traditional morning stroll, instructed police that Swetz yelled, “Get the f**** off the street, b****!” She responded by flipping him off.
Swetz allegedly drove a brief distance, then threw his truck into reverse, zigzagging towards her within the reverse lane and forcing her to leap onto the curb to keep away from being hit. When he stopped, the 2 exchanged extra phrases earlier than Swetz allegedly hurled the contents of his Large Gulp cup in her face.
Throughout opening statements, Assistant Legal professional Basic Suzanne Collins instructed Blakely that Swetz “used his pickup truck and a full cup of soda pop for exacting revenge on Ms. Foxx.”
However Assistant Public Defender Michael Herzog, an lawyer supervisor within the Felony Trial Division, argued for a misdemeanor conviction fairly than a felony.
“Decide, we’re right here primarily as a result of there are outsized fees,” Herzog argued. “That is a few second of mutual anger between two adults… a verbal altercation that briefly escalated to an offensive contact, battery of the misdemeanor type.”
In August, Foxx, who left workplace in December, up to date her LinkedIn profile, laying out themes for her subsequent chapter as a “collaborative trailblazer.” Amongst her said targets was a want to “construct methods of accountability that aren’t punitive, however transformational.”
“What if we grew to become keen — strategically and morally — to soak up some hurt in service of a higher good?” she requested.
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