Marlon Miller returned to a Cook dinner County courtroom on Friday, accused of randomly attacking three girls within the Loop this week at a time he was imagined to be confined to his house on digital monitoring for randomly attacking 4 different girls within the Loop.
The alleged assaults occurred simply days after a decide refused to maintain him in jail regardless of one other decide’s warning that the 40-year-old had a “very violent historical past,” a prosecutorial request to maintain Miller in jail, and intense public scrutiny of the county’s digital monitoring failures following the CTA practice fireplace assault that left a lady gravely injured.
Miller first appeared in CWBChicago reporting in 2018, when he broke a person’s jaw in 2 locations throughout a random, unprovoked assault outdoors Block 37 within the Loop. He finally acquired psychological well being probation and a 180-day jail time period for that case.
This 12 months, the sample accelerated. On March 8, Miller acquired a 3-day sentence for misdemeanor battery after hitting a lady within the face within the 7000 block of West Cermak Street. On Might 20, he acquired a 10-day sentence for misdemeanor battery after punching a lady within the head in Evanston. Additionally in Might, he acquired a 75-day sentence for punching a lady a number of occasions within the 300 block of North Michigan Avenue.
By fall, Miller started accumulating new pending instances whereas below the chief decide’s digital monitoring program. On October 10, Chicago police arrested him within the 100 block of East Lake Avenue on misdemeanor reckless conduct expenses. A witness instructed officers he personally noticed Miller punch two girls of their faces on the nook of Dearborn Avenue and Randolph Avenue, then run away and push one other lady to the bottom. The witness adopted Miller till officers arrived. Choose Luciano Panici, Jr. launched him the subsequent day.
Then, round midday on November 15, Miller was arrested inside a Dunkin’ within the 7500 block of North Paulina Avenue after a 22-year-old lady stated he slapped her throughout the face. Prosecutors charged him with misdemeanor battery. Because the offense was not detainable, Choose Susana Ortiz, noting Miller’s three latest battery convictions, ordered him onto digital monitoring administered by the chief decide’s workplace. Courtroom information present Miller failed to seem in courtroom 5 days later, however the sufferer additionally missed the listening to, and prosecutors dropped the case.
5 days after that, on November 25, a 30-year-old lady instructed police that Miller struck her within the face with a Potbelly cup full of a milkshake close to 175 North State Avenue. Officers who interviewed the lady famous she couldn’t absolutely open her proper eye afterward.
Their report notes Miller was sporting an digital monitor on his left ankle on the time. Once more, the cost was misdemeanor battery. Choose Panici ordered him to proceed on digital monitoring and wrote that Miller has a “very violent historical past” and a “random, violent new cost.” Panici additionally ordered him detained for violating pretrial launch phrases within the October reckless conduct case.
Prosecutors tried to resolve the state of affairs on December 1 by asking Choose Peter Gonzalez to detain Miller in custody because of the escalating variety of random assaults and his repeated violations of digital monitoring. Their request got here throughout heightened public consideration on the county’s monitoring program following reporting on the Lawrence Reed CTA fireplace assault case.
Regardless of Miller’s historical past, the state’s pleadings, and screaming information headlines about failures of the chief decide’s digital monitoring program, Gonzalez refused to detain Miller and despatched him house once more on an ankle monitor.
9 days later, on Wednesday, December 10, Miller allegedly carried out three extra unprovoked assaults within the Loop whereas he was imagined to be confined to his house. Prosecutors stated the spree started simply earlier than 8:30 a.m. when a 50-year-old lady walked alongside the primary block of East Randolph Avenue. With out warning, Miller allegedly punched her within the face, leaving her with bruising round her left eye.
At about the identical time, a 49-year-old lady reported that Miller punched her within the face at almost the identical spot, inflicting bruising to her face and injury to her eyeglasses. And a 62-year-old lady reported that Miller struck her within the face, too, inflicting bruising to her nostril and face. Cops arrested Miller close by. Their report states that Miller was sporting an digital monitor on his proper ankle once they took him into custody.
Miller is now charged with three counts of aggravated battery in a public place. Choose John Hock ordered him detained on these newest expenses.
CWBChicago’s in depth reporting has discovered that the chief decide’s workplace routinely permits folks on digital monitoring to build up in depth violations of their home arrest provisions with out consequence. The workplace has no enforcement mechanism and merely retains a listing of violations that they move alongside to the defendant’s decide at a future courtroom date.
That’s as a result of the county’s digital monitoring program, most of which got here below the management of the chief decide’s workplace earlier this 12 months, is sagging below withering criticism after CWBChicago revealed that the person accused of setting a lady on fireplace aboard a Blue Line practice within the Loop final month was sporting an ankle monitor issued by Evans’ workplace on the time of the horrific crime.
Our additional investigation revealed that the chief decide’s workers was conscious that the CTA fireplace assault suspect, Lawrence Reed, had repeatedly left house with out permission, but they took no motion to convey him again.
We additionally decided {that a} man lately charged with taking pictures one other man on the Purple Line was additionally on the chief decide’s monitoring program.
On December 1, the very day that Choose Peter Gonzalez refused to detain Marlon Miller, a brand new chief decide took workplace in Cook dinner County. In his first public coverage announcement the subsequent day, Chief Choose Charles Seaside II ordered the fast, complete evaluation of the courtroom’s digital monitoring system.
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