Fuck This Judge (UPDATE)

A couple posts below this one, we linked to the guilty verdict coming out of 26th Street yesterday. Certainly a bit of good news and closure for everyone involved. But it almost didn't happen because of a judge who deserves nothing but contempt from all decent citizens, cops, and society as a whole:

• Before the verdict was read, there was a shocking moment in the courtroom prior to closing statements when Judge John Lyke agreed with the defense that jurors could consider the charge of second-degree murder, instead of murder in the first degree. Ultimately, jurors convicted Montano of the more serious first-degree murder charge and all additional counts.

We've been following this trial pretty regularly. We have had people inside the courtroom e-mailing us. The media coverage has been pretty decent all things considered. The States Attorneys involved have been putting on a clinic with the material provided via a top notch investigation by the detectives. 

And Lyke almost gave this scumbag an out on a lesser charge? Why?

There was absolutely no doubt shithead did it. The body cam video by the Officer recording his own murder - painful as it was for everyone to view -  made it airtight. We were told (unverified) that Officer Vasquez Lasso could be heard announcing his office on the audio, like we were all taught over and over and over at the Academy. The State made no significant errors that might plant the seeds of reasonable doubt in a jury where they'd need a lesser charge to save the case. Even the asshole's own testimony made no holes in the State's case and was pretty much lie after lie.

And Lyke opened the door to a lesser verdict on a Hail Mary motion that the defense always makes when the clock is showing zero AND they don't even have the ball. Thank God the jury saw through it and applied the law as written.

Lyke, in effect, painted a target on all Officers' backs from this point forward. He created a future defense opportunity for other cop killers to claim that there is some sort of "right" to self defense when an Officer pursues an armed suspect in a wildly dynamic situation, something that local, state and national law says is our duty. That, in our opinion, is an unforgivable sin.

This is exactly why we vote "NO" on ALL judges, every single election.

This is why you should, too. It doesn't take much time or effort. It doesn't even get you put on the jury summons list - Cook County hasn't used the voter rolls for jury duty in decades - they use the Drivers License lists. If you get a summons and it ain't Registered Mail....well, we shouldn't have to spell it out for you. 

UPDATE: A bunch of people are opining that the judge did the right thing by permitting consideration of a lesser charge so as to close off an avenue of appeal at a later date. 

Sorry, that doesn't fly. You know how you stave off an appeal like that?

• Jury instructions. Define the charge of First Degree Murder versus Second Degree Murder and make sure the jury knows exactly what the law says and make sure they apply it

We've seen it done, more than once. It's completely legal and has withstood appeals for years. The judge has a ton of leeway and it also shuts down the appeal avenue because all he's doing is quoting the text that the Legislature passed and removing confusion.

But it's all moot, all opinion, all discussion. The jury rendered the correct decision. But you can bet that a whole can of worms has been opened allowing it to even be breached.