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A lesson in healing, forgiveness and justice.
Woman gets probation in beating of teen shown on Facebook Live
A Chicago woman who prosecutors said used Facebook Live to stream a beating of a mentally disabled teenager from the suburbs avoided prison by pleading guilty to a hate crime Friday in Cook County circuit court.
Brittany Covington, 19, received four years' probation in exchange for the negotiated guilty plea. In addition to the hate crime, she admitted to aggravated battery with intent to disseminate on video and intimidation charges, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Cook County Judge William Hooks sentenced Covington to 200 hours of community service as part of the probation, plus ordered her to attain a general equivalency diploma. Covington also is prohibited from contact with any gang members, must submit to random drug testing and is banned from all forms of social media for four years.
The four defendants in the case are black and the victim white.
Authorities said the then-18-year-old Crystal Lake victim met up with Jordan Hill -- formerly a student at Aurora's Core Academy and Hoffman Estates' Conant High School -- on the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2016, at a Schaumburg McDonald's restaurant. Later, the teen called his parents for permission to spend the night at a friend's home.
A Chicago woman who prosecutors said used Facebook Live to stream a beating of a mentally disabled teenager from the suburbs avoided prison by pleading guilty to a hate crime Friday in Cook County circuit court.
Brittany Covington, 19, received four years' probation in exchange for the negotiated guilty plea. In addition to the hate crime, she admitted to aggravated battery with intent to disseminate on video and intimidation charges, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Cook County Judge William Hooks sentenced Covington to 200 hours of community service as part of the probation, plus ordered her to attain a general equivalency diploma. Covington also is prohibited from contact with any gang members, must submit to random drug testing and is banned from all forms of social media for four years.
The four defendants in the case are black and the victim white.
Authorities said the then-18-year-old Crystal Lake victim met up with Jordan Hill -- formerly a student at Aurora's Core Academy and Hoffman Estates' Conant High School -- on the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2016, at a Schaumburg McDonald's restaurant. Later, the teen called his parents for permission to spend the night at a friend's home.
http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20171208/woman-gets-probation-in-beating-of-teen-shown-on-facebook-live
I agree with the honorable judge Hooks here. What benefit would there have been in sending this 19-year-old child to prison and ruining here life for good? Too many young black people are just thrown away like garbage into the criminal justice system only to eventually reemerge as the harden, irredeemable criminals our inherently racist society imagines them all to be. Instead, she must now serve her community for 200 hours and take some responsibility in improving her own life by obtaining her GED. Hopefully, from there, she'll go on to earn a college degree.
I wish there were more judges like this. Black people rarely get second chances like this in our racially biased court system, let alone justice.
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