From late 2020 via mid-2021, Chicago police arrested Johnny Allen 4 occasions for allegedly promoting medicine in the identical West Aspect neighborhood. Prosecutors dropped the costs each time. Nearly precisely one month after the state dropped the fourth set of expenses, Allen shot and tried to kill a person in the identical neighborhood, allegedly for refusing to declare allegiance in an ongoing gang battle.
This week, Prepare dinner County Choose Kenneth Wadas handed Allen a 29-year jail sentence for the taking pictures after a jury convicted the 26-year-old in June. One is left to marvel if his life and the lifetime of the person he shot might need gone in a different way had prosecutors not given Allen so many free passes
Allen’s arrest spree started on November 28, 2020, when police took Allen into custody for allegedly distributing oxycodone within the 300 block of South Pulaski Street. Prosecutors dropped the cost throughout Allen’s bond listening to the next day.
About six weeks later, a person informed police that Allen and two others robbed him at gunpoint within the 4000 block of West Wilcox Avenue, taking $100 money and a gold watch. Officers mentioned Allen was carrying eleven oxycodone capsules, 20 Xanax capsules, a baggie of heroin, and ten suspected artificial heroin capsules on the time of his arrest.
The theft sufferer declined to pursue expenses after police returned his property, based on a Chicago Police Division report, however they nonetheless slapped Allen with 4 felony narcotics counts. Prosecutors dismissed all of these expenses lower than a month later, court docket data present.
Police arrested Allen once more on June 11, 2021, after allegedly witnessing a hand-to-hand drug transaction within the 4000 block of West Madison Avenue. Officers reported discovering 40 suspected oxycodone capsules in his possession. Prosecutors dropped that case throughout Allen’s bond listening to the subsequent day.
Sixteen days later, Allen was arrested as soon as extra after police mentioned he offered heroin twice to undercover officers. These expenses had been additionally dismissed inside weeks.
On October 1, 2021, nearly precisely a month after prosecutors dropped these expenses, a 32-year-old man who had just lately been launched from jail crossed paths with Allen and one other man whereas strolling to get a haircut. Allen allegedly requested which facet he was on in an ongoing gang dispute.
The person informed Allen he didn’t need to be concerned, explaining that he had simply left jail and didn’t need issues with anybody, prosecutors mentioned.
“Should you’re not an ally, then you definitely’re an enemy,” Allen allegedly responded.
The next day, the sufferer was strolling within the 4000 block of West Monroe Avenue when he noticed Allen and one other man standing close to a car and pointing weapons at him, based on prosecutors. Each males opened fireplace, hanging the sufferer in his torso, leg, and buttocks.
The shooters ran away, however the sufferer acknowledged them from the neighborhood and offered their names to police, prosecutors mentioned. Officers later arrested Allen close to Madison Avenue and Pulaski Street, near the place he had been repeatedly arrested for narcotics dealing, on tried homicide expenses.
Illinois Division of Corrections data present he arrived on the Stateville Correctional Heart reception facility on New Yr’s Eve. He should serve 85% of his sentence earlier than turning into eligible for parole.
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