2nd mob beating trial stays in Cook County

[Anne Warfield]

From the Chicago Tribune--

2nd mob beating trial stays in Cook County

By Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 6, 2003

Antonio Fort's family ties to a notorious gang leader and publicity
about a fatal mob attack last summer will not result in a change of
venue for his trial, a Cook County judge ruled Wednesday.

Fort's attorney, Lawrence Wolf Levin, had argued that those lingering
factors prohibited finding a Cook County panel to fairly consider
whether Fort, 16, was involved in a fatal mob attack in the Oakland
neighborhood last summer.

Judge James Egan disagreed, and after a brief hearing at the Criminal
Courts Building, he ordered jury selection in the case to begin Feb.
18.

Fort will be the second of eight defendants to go to trial for the
July 30 slaying of two men dragged from their van after it crashed
into a South Side stoop where a group of women were chatting. One of
the women later died.

The teen, the youngest of those charged, is accused of being one of
the suspects who dropped chunks of concrete from the broken stoop onto
the heads of victims Jack Moore and Anthony Stuckey.

Levin also argued that extensive news coverage of the trial of Lamont
Motes--the first defendant to be tried in the case--might have tainted
the pool of prospective jurors. The state contended that media reports
on the high-profile killings preceded Motes' trial as well, and the
jury was not prejudiced.

Motes, 20, was acquitted of murder Jan. 29, but was found guilty of
aggravated battery and mob action charges.

Egan told both sides he would question prospective jurors about what
press coverage they have seen and will ask whether they have formed
any opinions about the case.

The judge said he also plans to ask whether anyone who might hear the
case has any memory of the notorious imprisoned leader of the Black P
Stone Nation or El Rukn street gang, Jeff Fort, who is in a federal
prison. He is Antonio Fort's grandfather.

Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/mchenry/chi-0302060293feb06,1,5518714.story?coll=chi%2Dnewslocalmchenry%2Dhed

--
Anne Warfield
indigoace at goodsol period com
http://www.goodsol.com/cats/