Lenard Clark Update
stew...@yahoo.com
Guilty Pleas in Ill. Racial Beating
CHICAGO (AP) Two white men accused in the brutal beating of a black
teen-ager have avoided jail time by acknowledging they did nothing to
stop the attack.
Victor Jasas, 18, and Michael Kwidzinski, 21, were charged with
attempted murder and a hate crime in the attack on Lenard Clark on March
21, 1997. Clark, then 13, was beaten after he rode his bike into the
predominantly white Bridgeport neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.
A third man, Frank Caruso Jr., 19, who authorities said did most of the
beating, was convicted Sept. 18 of aggravated battery and a hate crime,
and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
All three men were accused of knocking Lenard from his bicycle, then
kicking and pummeling him until he was unconscious. He suffered brain
damage in the attack.
On Monday, prosecutors dropped the original charges against Jasas and
Kwidzinski in exchange for Jasas' guilty plea to two felony charges of
aggravated battery and Kwidinski's plea to two misdemeanor counts of
battery.
As part of their agreements, neither man admitted to physical contact
with Clark. Instead, the defendants admitted being responsible for what
happened, prosecutors said.
Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel Locallo sentenced Jasas to 2 1/2 years
of probation, while Kwidzinski received two years of probation. Both men
also must serve 300 hours of community service.
Locallo told the defendants he hoped the community service would provide
them with ``more enlightenment about individuals who are different than
you.''
Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine said the ``bigotry that
accompanied the attack is disturbing.'' But he said the case was
hampered by the murder of one witness in an apparent robbery attempt,
the disappearance of another and the failure of a third to remember
``anything from the witness stand.''
Clark's stepfather said the outcome was a disgrace.
``I feel as though if it were a black individual, it wouldn't have taken
so long and it would have been the max,'' Antawn Holloway said. ``So
justice has not been served. Lenard is still doing time.''
-----
Deal lets 2 in Clark case stay out of jail
By Janan Hanna
Tribune Staff Writer
October 20, 1998
Hampered by the disappearance of one witness and the murder of another,
prosecutors on Monday struck a plea agreement that requires no jail time
for two defendants who had been accused in the racial beating of
13-year-old Lenard Clark.
The deals with Michael Kwidzinski, 21, and Victor Jasas, 18, came less
than a week after a third defendant, Frank Caruso Jr., 18, was sentenced
to 8 years in prison for his part in the attack on Clark and companion
Clevan Nicholson on March 21, 1997. Clark, who is black, suffered brain
damage.
Kwidzinski and Jasas had been charged with attempted murder, aggravated
battery and committing a hate crime in connection with the beating near
Armour Square Park, which prompted nationwide outrage and calls for
racial tolerance. But shortly before they were scheduled to go on trial
Monday, Jasas pleaded guilty to two felony counts of aggravated battery
and Kwidzinski pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of battery.
Under the agreement between prosecutors and defense lawyers, Cook County
Circuit Judge Daniel Locallo sentenced Jasas to 30 months of probation
and Kwidzinski to 24 months. Both must perform 300 hours of community
service.
Caruso, sentenced Thursday, was convicted by a jury of aggravated
battery and of committing a hate crime, but he was acquitted of
attempted murder. In the agreement, Jasas and Kwidzinski admitted they
stood by while Clark was beaten and did nothing to prevent it--but
neither admitted striking Clark.
Although prosecutors said Clark's family supported the plea agreement,
the teenager's stepfather called the outcome "a disgrace."
"What's probation? That's nothing," said Antawn Holloway, 30. "There's
no way with the crime committed they should have gotten off with
nothing. I feel as though if it were a black individual, it wouldn't
have taken so long and it would have been the max. So justice has not
been served. Lenard is still doing time."
Caruso's lawyer, Edward Genson, said the disparity in the sentences
handed out just four days apart was grossly unfair.
"I think they made Caruso the scapegoat," Genson said.
"Their witnesses said three people beat Clark," he said. "If the
(prosecutors) believe jail time is appropriate for one of them, how can
they say probation is appropriate for two of them?"
The agreements also drew criticism in the South Side housing development
where Clark lived at the time of the beating and in the Bridgeport area,
where the defendants live. Despite supporting opposite sides, residents
in both saw racial favoritism in the deal.
Cook County State's Atty. Richard Devine put a positive face on Monday's
events, bragging that all three individuals accused have been found
accountable for the crime. Despite the "absence of witnesses," he said,
Kwidzinski and Jasas "have been held responsible."
Prosecutors said the witnesses --Richard DeSantis, who is missing, and
Michael Cutler, who is dead--were more crucial to their case against
Jasas and Kwidzinski than against Caruso. The government had another
witness in the Caruso case.
Assistant State's Attorneys Ellen Mandeltort and Robert Berlin said at
Caruso's trial that Clark and Nicholson were attacked by three white men
who yelled racial epithets and struck them, knocking them off their
bicycles near 33rd Street and Shields Avenue. Nicholson ran away--but
Clark was chased around the corner to 33rd Street and Princeton Avenue,
where he was kicked repeatedly in his head and body until a witness
threatened to call police.
Clark was left unconscious on the sidewalk. Witnesses said Caruso, Jasas
and Kwidzinski had bragged about the beating.
Clark went into a coma from the beating and spent several weeks in a
rehabilitation hospital before he was sent home. He did not testify at
Caruso's trial because he has no memory of the attack, prosecutors said.
Neither Clark's nor Nicholson's mothers, who stood with prosecutors
during the reading of the agreement in court, commented Monday. The
defendants and their families likewise did not speak to reporters.
The plea agreements for Jasas and Kwidzinski were hatched over a
two-week period when prosecutors indicated a willingness to negotiate,
defense lawyers said.
Kevin Bolger, the attorney for Kwidzinski, said his client insisted on
no jail time and a misdemeanor conviction--conditions prosecutors would
not accept at first but ultimately agreed to late Friday night. Bolger
said that even though prosecutors had next to no evidence against his
client, Kwidzinski did not want to risk being convicted by a jury.
Joe Lopez, the lawyer for Jasas, also said he was holding out for no
jail time. When prosecutors agreed, it was "a deal we couldn't refuse."
"When they offer you probation in this building, you take it," Lopez
said. He said the stiff sentence Caruso received was a factor in his
client's decision to plead guilty.
Monday's events ended a case that has been full of bizarre
circumstances.
DeSantis implicated Caruso, Jasas and Kwidzinski in a statement to
police shortly after the attacks. But he asserted his 5th Amendment
right against self-incrimination when he was called before a grand jury
on March 25, 1997.
DeSantis later disappeared, prompting authorities to charge him with
unlawful flight to avoid appearing in court as a witness in a criminal
case and to send the FBI on a manhunt.
Cutler, another witness who implicated all three defendants in a
statement to police, was murdered in what authorities say was a robbery
attempt on the West Side.
News of the plea agreements sparked similar allegations of unequal
justice in vastly different neighborhoods that have connections to the
case: in Bridgeport; the Stateway Gardens public housing complex; and
Morgan Park, where Clark lives now.
"I think it was wrong and they should have gotten time," said Arlanda
Baggett, 28, who lives near Clark in Morgan Park.
"If it was a black person who had done it to a white one, they would
have had to serve a lot of time," Baggett said.
"If it had been one of our people that had gone over to Bridgeport and
beat up one of them, we'd have gotten 40 years to life," said John Hall,
who was standing near Clark's old residence at 3617 S. Federal St. "They
should be doing at least 6 years apiece."
Across the Dan Ryan in the Bridgeport neighborhood, some residents
reacted Monday with sympathy for Kwidzinski and Jasas, saying the two
never would have received a fair trial in such an emotional and racially
charged case.
"These two boys had to plead guilty to what they didn't even do," said
Frank Rizzo, 39. "This was a politically charged case from the
beginning, and if they didn't plead guilty they could have gotten 10
years."
Under Locallo's ruling, Jasas and Kwidzinski were ordered to perform
community service in a way that would promote racial sensitivity. The
terms will be designed by the Chicago Commission on Human Relations.
Judge Locallo told the commission Monday he wanted a program to expose
the two men to communities around the city, Chairman Clarence Wood said.
"The commission is well-aware that the kind of behavior exhibited by
these two persons and Mr. Caruso is learned behavior, learned in their
institutions and in their families, sanctioned by those institutions and
families," Wood said.