Woman Gets Probation in January 2017 Chicago Facebook Torture Case
“terms of the plea agreement bars Covington from using social media for four years”
Back in January, two men and two women in Chicago were arrested after they used Facebook to broadcast images of themselves torturing a mentally disabled man. The defendants were black and their victim was white. The case was classified as a hate crime.
The attack was horrific. CBS News Chicago described it:
In the first 30-minute video, which apparently was posted live on Facebook on Tuesday, the victim is backed into a corner, his mouth duct-taped shut. The victim’s clothes were cut, he was peppered with cigarette ashes, and then his hair cut with a knife until his scalp bled.
Several people can be seen laughing and eating during the attack, in addition to making disparaging remarks about President-elect Donald Trump and using racially charged language. At one point, while the victim is backed into a corner, someone is heard shouting “F*** Donald Trump. F*** white people.”
Thursday morning, Chicago police confirmed they are investigating a second video, which surfaced on Twitter, and appears to show the suspects grabbing the victim’s head, shoving it into a toilet, and forcing him to drink.
Someone can be heard yelling “Drink that s*** right f***ing now. … Drink the toilet water, b****! Say f*** Trump! Say f*** Trump!”
We covered the story as it broke:
- Black Chicago teens torture special-needs boy, yell “F*** Donald Trump! F*** white people!”
- Should “hate” be a separate category of crime?
- Chicago Torture: Hate Crime charges filed, as some liberal media try to make story about Trump
All four defendants in the case have been in jail since their arrest but one of them was just released with some conditions. CBS News Chicago reports:
Woman In Facebook Torture Case Banned From Social Media For 4 Years
A woman who live-streamed herself and a trio of friends abusing a mentally disabled man and taunting him with racial insults was sentenced to probation Friday after spending nearly a year behind bars.
Brittany Covington, 19, had been held at the Cook County Jail without bond since January, when she and co-defendants Tesfaye Cooper, Jordan Hill and her 24-year-old sister Tanishia Covington were arrested on kidnapping and hate-crime charges.
The plea deal prosecutors made with Brittany Covington makes her the first of the four to be released, though she will remain on probation for four years and is barred from contact with Cooper and Hill, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
Other terms of the plea agreement bars Covington from using social media for four years, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office tells CBS 2.
Brittany Covington narrated Facebook Live video of the others tormenting an 18-year-old white man in the apartment she shared with her sister.
The report includes some details which explain how the arrests were made:
When a woman who lived in the building complained about the the noise and threatened to call the police, the sisters kicked in the woman’s door in anger and took some of her property, police said. While the others had run to the other apartment, the victim managed to escape, and police found him, wearing shorts and his torn clothing in the January weather, a block away. Streamwood police officials say the victim’s parents had made a missing-persons report after their son didn’t return home.
Miss Covington got off easy. It remains to be seen if her co-defendants will be as lucky.
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Comments
Is there any truth to the reports that hate crime charges against these people were dropped, or never filed?
This is what passes for justice in Chicago? Reverse the polarity on this crime and there’d be riots in the streets if one of the perpetrators was released on probation after only one year in jail.
If there was ever a hate-crime for the US attorney to get involved, this would be it.
5 years probation? For aggravated kidnapping? Really??? REALLY??? All live streamed and recorded by the perpetrators. Not to mention the burglary of the neighbor’s apartment. And people wonder why Chicago has a crime problem.
The country has gone insane.
Miscarriage of Justice is the only description that fits this.
This is Dem country where racism is OK if it is in the “correct” direction. Perhaps this is just all about race, not behavior.
Does anyone remember this 2007 story? Because it’s also black-on-white torture and murder, it’s buried.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Channon_Christian_and_Christopher_Newsom
Remember it? If one has read about this crime it could never, ever be forgotten.
It’s OK, doncha know – one protected group attacking a poor man who is unable to protect himself – Chi town politics.
Blame Trump’s election victory – hey Rahm who you gonna call – Ghost busters.
There needs to be a federal investigation and trial of these ‘wonderful yootful hijinks’.
From second city cop:
A few weeks ago, our comment section lit up with word that the State had vacated the Hate Crime portion of the charges. It was explained by a few people that the Kidnapping charge had a better chance of conviction and provided for more severe sentencing. So what is this “four years probation” crap and a reinstatement of the Hate Crime charge? We have two theories:
(A) the obvious one – cooperation – which we see no evidence of;
(B) it’s Judge Hooks, and he’s been told to sentence the “least culpable” criminal to probation to gauge the reaction of the electorate and how damaging this might be to Rahm or Kimmie or any other Chicago pol who are pandering to the “community” once again, giving them carte blanche to “express” themselves in a manner ….we can’t even finish this bullshit.
This, not even two days after Special Ed complained about sentencing and lack of punishment allowing an asshole out on parole where he could shoot an Officer. Now, one (of four) black criminals who live-streamed a kidnapping/torture of a mentally handicapped white individual has just learned there are no significant penalties for her behavior. Are three more about to find out the same thing?
Sad hard reality of the situation is Chicago’s crime rates being what they are generally, and Chicago being the murder capitol of the country as it is, the system is there overwhelmed and crimes like this get short shrift.
Assault and aggravated kidnapping are just one step from murder. If races were reversed it wouldn’t matter if there were fifty perps, they’d find room for them for the next ten years.
Hopefully the US DOJ is being kept abreast of these outcomes and will respond appropriately if this mockery of justice continues.
Sessions better get on it, or Trump needs to kick his rear, or no new term for the prez.
…and Fen is radicalized a bit more.
“If you still think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention” – Ramsey Snow
The court system obviously approved of her conduct. And of course there is no way to enforce the conditions of parole
Sometimes you can tell a book by its cover.
Yes!! One need only look at the mug shots. Thugs all.
So what are the chances that this Plea Deal is in exchange for her testifying against the other 3? I am betting they handed her this deal and said “since you only operated the camera if you turn states witness we can give you a good deal.”
And when her testimony turns out to be a bunch of “i forgets” or i dunno” etc., they’ll give her an additional year of probation (or maybe a job in the Chicago city government).
I would say this plea deal is more a function of her sex than her race. “Women get off light” is very common in our legal system. Male co-defendants frequently get harsher sentences than female ones, and plea deals for cooperation (though as noted we have no evidence yet that is the basis for this plea deal) are almost always offered to the female co-defendant first, and the male co-defendant second (if it’s offered to the male co-defendant at all). I would expect the other female co-defendant to get off light too, while their male co-defendants will almost certainly do significant jail time.
“I would say this plea deal is more a function of her sex than her race.”
Actually it’s both. Since she’s a black woman she gets off with a tap on the wrist. Is she comes out as a lesbian Rahm will hire her as diversity outreach officer for the Chicago PD.
If she gets hit by a bus and ends up in a wheelchair she’ll get a promotion to chief diversity outreach officer for the entire city, a hefty raise and bonus, and the keys to the city.
Get with the program, dude. Study up on your hierarchy of victims.
Hey, it’s Chicago. Nobody was killed. What’s the problem? / sarc
Not to long ago 4 white high school football players raped their mentally ill black teammate. They raped him w with a coat hanger. All four of those white rapists received probation and juvenile sentences,which amounted to no prison time and sealed records.
I don’t recall this being covered at legal insurrection. If it was please post the link.
Nor do I recall any outrage over that particular Injustice. If there was outrage please post the link.
As for that girl getting probation instead of prison,this is just the result of a unjust criminal justice system. Until the criminal justice system is corrected , we’ll see more of this,more Kate Steinles,etc.
HAVE A NICE DAY!!!
You go first. Post a link to this story. I tend not to get outraged over stories I’ve a) never heard of except from some random guy on the internet and b) said random guy doesn’t link to the story.
Do you expect me to just take your word for it?
How long ago was “not to(sic) long ago?” After #BLM got into full swing? Had this happened as you say, #BLM would have been rioting in the streets. Hell, “not too long ago” a black Maryland woman attempted to prevent the police from serving a warrant by holding off the cops with a Mossberg pistol grip shotgun while holding her own child in front of her as a human shield. She kept posting pics of herself to facebook during the stand off.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/02/us/baltimore-shooting-randallstown-woman-killed/index.html
#BLM practically made her out to be mother of the year.
Here is the several reports of the white high school football players raping their black mentally disabled teammate:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/20/idaho-football-coat-hanger-rape-teammate-john-rk-howard
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/02/26/slap-on-the-wrist-white-classmate-avoids-jail-in-coat-hanger-assault-of-disabled-black-teen/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZWVzyqZvW8
As for BLM rioting, most of the riots this year have been white riots from Inaugural day 2017 ,Antifa ,riots over Statues and monuments of DEMOCRATIC CONFEDERATE MURDERERS,etc.
As for the woman you say BLM made mother of the year. No different than the hero worship given to racist Cliven Bundy by (LI,Fox News,every rightwing website,Sens. Heller,Cruz, Greg Abbott,Dan Fitzpatrick,etc) for having his armed white militias
ready to kill federal cops ,who were serving a warrant .
Since we can’t post pictures let’s remember the ambush killing of Officers Igor Soldo and Alyn Beck. 2 LVPD cops along with a 3rd person murdered by Bundy participants Jared and Amanda Miller, while eating pizza at Cici’s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Las_Vegas_shootings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jD2ckZs-W8
http://heavy.com/news/2014/06/alyn-beck-igor-soldo-las-vegas-shooting-victims/
The Idaho case was disgusting and the perps should have spent serious time in prison. As should the woman in the Chicago case.
But from the Guardian I learned the rape actually occurred in 2015. I wouldn’t categorize that as “not too long ago.” There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then, and although the Guardian said the case generated national headlines this is the first I’m hearing about it.
Secondly, you can’t say there are no differences between the Bundy case and Gaines. I don’t recall anyone using children as human shields during the Bundy standoff. And the feds weren’t there to merely issue warrants; they were there to sieze cattle. As in, Bundy’s livelihood.
Additionally, there are legitimate issues wrapped up in the Bundy case, issues that effect a lot of ranchers throughout the west. The federal government owns 81% of the land in Nevada with the Bureau of Land Management (to differentiate it for the other #BLM) managing most of it. Something it isn’t competent to do. The BLM and USFS have far more land than they can manage effectively. And for the most part they don’t even try.
On top of that after defeating Ford, Carter went on to weaponize the EPA (something that didn’t exist prior to Nixon) to punish western states that didn’t support him. Even the odious Harry Reid has been opposed to the heavy handed measures that led to the Sagebrush Rebellion.
And I don’t even like ranchers much as I’m an avid hunter. When ranchers get grazing permits for BLM/USFS land they act like they own it. Putting up locked gates, etc., to prevent anyone else from accessing the land. Which is illegal as all they have are grazing permits; it remains public land and they can’t prevent others from using it for other purposes besides grazing (and they can’t even prevent all grazing, as it’s still legal to graze horses if you’re packing in and not actually raising animals on the permitted parcel). But despite my general dislike for the way the ranchers protest the heavy hand of government, only to turn around and use heavy handed tactics of their own, I still can see how the Bundy family has a point. Carter weaponized the EPA to punish those states, seriously impeding the ranchers’ ability to make a living. Some like Bundy family have lived there since the 19th century and this was not part of the original deal when the feds took over. Their ancestral rights to continue to graze cattle on that land was supposed to be respected. But after Carter got the ball rolling, agencies like the EPA figured out that they could collude with environmental groups and use “sue and settle” tactics, fake adversarial procedures to grant the EPA more power to do what it wanted to do anyway while evading the public notification requirements that new regulations would normally require. The feds claim they aren’t issuing new regulations but simply complying with court orders. Which is a canard as they first collude with the environmental group to work out exactly what new powers they’re going to need, then strike a deal and get a court to sign off on it.
Also, the attempt to link the Bundy clan to those two racist idiots was wild overreach and a ridiculous attempt at guilt-by-association. According to the Las Vegas Sun the two murderers claimed to have spent time on the Bundy ranch during the stand-off but I can find no evidence they actually did. Nor do I see any evidence the Bundys share their views.
I see plenty of evidence that when #BLM riots and chants, “What do we want? Dead Cops! When do we want them? Now! and their associates go and execute a few, all involved share each other’s views. And I don’t care about the color of leftist rioters, I despise them all. And I despise how leftist politicians protect them; indeed, they tell the police to stand down so they can attack their targets more easily.
That wasn’t BLM chanting what do we want dead cops. That was the millions more movement March. Stop being dishonest. Of course you’d sympathize with Bundy and those armedwhite Militias pulling guns and threatening to kill federal cops.