In Chicago, concerns are mounting over the effectiveness of Cook County’s electronic monitoring system following a recent violent incident on a CTA train.
A young woman named Bethany MaGee, as confirmed by her family, became the victim of a horrific attack when she was set on fire while traveling on a CTA train in the Loop area.
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Lawrence Reed, who has a history of 72 prior arrests and was under electronic monitoring for another offense, has been charged in connection with the attack.
Court records disclose that Reed had repeatedly breached his curfew in the days leading up to the incident.
On November 17, the same day MaGee was attacked, an alert was issued shortly after noon indicating that Reed had once again violated his curfew.
Just a few hours after this alert, Reed is alleged to have carried out the attack on MaGee aboard the train.
The Office of the Chief Judge of Cook County, who oversees the electronic monitoring operation, said in a statement, “The Office of the Chief Judge extends our deepest concern to the individual who was injured, and we take this matter extremely seriously. Any incident in which someone is harmed is unacceptable, and public safety remains our top priority. Because the case involving Lawrence Reed is now pending in federal court, we are prohibited under the Illinois Supreme Court Code of Judicial Conduct from commenting on its specific facts. These rules protect judicial integrity and prevent any appearance of bias. We can, however, outline the legal standards and procedures that guide judicial decision-making in all pretrial matters.”
The chief judge took over the program from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office earlier this year.
They went on to say, “We are reviewing all actions taken in this case to ensure procedures were followed and to identify opportunities for improvement. One immediate change under consideration is reinstating the practice of reporting escalated EM alerts to the State’s Attorney’s Office. That process was previously paused, following concerns raised by the State’s Attorney’s Office regarding the volume of alerts. In the interest of public safety, we believe it is necessary to re-evaluate this process.”
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office defended her prosecutors Tuesday, saying “This heinous crime is heartbreaking. But it didn’t come out of nowhere. My office requested the perpetrator be detained after he committed a previous violent crime. The judge denied our request. This was a tragedy. But it never should have happened.”
The crime has many, including President Donald Trump, taking aim at “liberal judges.”
“The woman with the burning, they burned the woman. They burned this beautiful woman riding in a train. A man was arrested 72 times – 72 times, think of that – and they let him out again. The liberal judges will let him out again,” Trump said Tuesday.
The president, once again, called out Chicago and its leaders over crime in the city.
Critics are coming after the SAFE-T Act, which Gov. JB Pritzker addressed last Friday.
“The SAFE-T Act is designed to give judges the ability to keep people in jail who they think are potentially dangerous to the community. So it’s the judgement of those elected judges that ultimately determines in most cases whether somebody is released or not,” Pritzker said.
The SAFE-T act would have allowed for a judge to keep Reed behind bars.
Cook County court data show, of those who have been released pretrial since the start of the Pretrial Fairness Act, a component of the SAFE-T Act which eliminated cash bail, 94 percent of people have not been charged with new violent crimes while on pretrial release.
Teamsters Local 700 said in a statement:
“We have been warning the community for more than a year of the danger posed by the reckless decision to transfer the electronic monitoring program away from the oversight of the Local 700 sworn peace officers at the Sheriff’s Office who previously handled the program. Now, we’re seeing the terrifying consequences of this disastrous decision in this horrific fire attack on the Blue Line, one that never should have happened. The bottom line here is clear: the Office of the Chief Judge is not equipped to properly administer this program, and now an innocent woman has been set on fire and traumatized for life.
“To ensure the safety of the community, the process of transferring the electronic monitoring program to the Office of the Chief Judge must be halted immediately and the program must be reestablished within the office of the Cook County Sheriff. Local 700 stands ready to work with Sheriff Dart, incoming Chief Judge Beach, the Cook County Board, and state lawmakers to fix this mess – before another innocent person gets hurt.”
On a GoFundMe page for MaGee, family said they are grateful for the public’s support of their daughter, who they describe as a “gentle spirit.”
