What’s the Magic Number For Liberal Judges To End The Madness? It Isn’t 72
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, even someone who declared themselves to be liberal still possessed the ability to be reasonable. Those days came and went, and being liberal now means hating everything that America stands for, even justice.
Lawrence Reed is a 50-year-old criminal psychopath who has been arrested 72 times over 30 years. Federal prosecutors highlighted his extensive criminal history, including 15 convictions: eight felonies and seven misdemeanors. The charges varied from driving with a suspended license and drug possession to aggravated battery and arson.
In August, while inside a locked psychiatric ward at MacNeal Hospital, Reed violently struck a social worker. At that time, prosecutor Jerrilyn Gumila described how Reed could be seen on surveillance video flying off the handle as the social worker was speaking with him.
“He became irate and slapped the victim in the face with an open palm. Her vision went black, and she lost consciousness for several seconds. One of the victim’s co-workers rushed over and helped the victim walk down to her office, and the victim was then taken to the emergency room.”
Gumila added that the social worker’s injuries included a cut on the cornea of her eye, possible optic nerve bruising, a concussion that caused her nausea and memory loss, and a chipped tooth.
He went on to explain Reed’s extensive criminal history, which included a 2020 arson conviction for setting a fire outside a Chicago building.
“The defendant poses a real and present threat to the safety of, especially this victim, whoever else was working in the hospital that day, and the community as a whole.”
“The defendant randomly and spontaneously became irate in this situation where the victim was just attempting to do her job as a social worker, and now, as a result, suffered injuries so severe that she still has side effects on a daily basis.”
Reed’s attorney, Nicholas Yannias, said his client’s behavior was caused by his 26-year-long struggle with a mental illness that makes him “paranoid.”
Yannias, a public defender, said Reed had been treated at the same hospital for 17 years and that he’d gotten back on the correct dose of his medications since the assault.
“Mr. Reed needs services; he does not need to be incarcerated for being mentally ill and acting in accordance with his mental illness.”
After hearing the facts of the case, County Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez freed Reed on a felony aggravated battery charge for attacking the social worker, because at the time, the assault was classified as a misdemeanor battery and later upgraded.
Gonzalez is trying to hide behind the nonsensical Illinois’ Pretrial Fairness Act. Under this ridiculous rule, judges supposedly can’t hold a defendant in jail unless they are charged with a felony and meet a slew of other criteria, including having a criminal history, posing a risk of endangering the community, or being a flight risk.
Gonzales can say whatever she wants, but we see judges pulling this type of judicial misconduct all the time. There is no way anyone of good conscience should have allowed this animal back onto the street. It’s evident that this is just the latest in a long line of liberal rulings for Reed. How can anyone be arrested 72 times over 30 years and have only 15 convictions?
In this case, Gonzales, with her liberal point of view, could have detained Reed, but chose not to do so and instead is hiding because of an act that favors the criminals over the victims. Is it any wonder that Chicago and other cities in the state have become so consistently violent?
According to CWB Chicago, Gumila repeatedly warned Gonzalez that releasing Reed with only electronic monitoring would be “wholly insufficient.” According to a transcript of the hearing that took place on August 22nd, Gumila told Gonzalez that by releasing Reed:
“It could not protect the victim or the community from another vicious, random, and spontaneous attacks.”
That said, Gonzalez was unmoved, telling Gumila:
“I understand your position, but I can’t keep everybody in jail because the state’s attorney wants me to, but I understand and respect your position.”
She ordered Reed to stay away from the hospital unless he had “a medical emergency”. She told him he would be monitored electronically “because of your ridiculous criminal history and lengthy criminal history.”
Gonzalez allowed Reed to leave his home 40 hours a week, 24 hours more than the 16 allotted under the state’s SAFE-T Act, which permits defendants with electronic monitoring to leave home 16 hours a week for “essential” activities.
A few weeks later, on September 12, Judge Ralph Meczyk approved Yannias’ request to allow Reed to have different hours for church activities, according to a transcript of the hearing.
Really, church activities.
Less than three months later, Reed filled a bottle with gasoline. Twenty minutes later, he entered the Chicago L train and approached an unidentified 26-year-old woman seated with her back to Reed, scrolling through her phone.
According to the complaint, “Reed then took the cap off the bottle and poured a liquid from the bottle all over the victim’s head and body.”
According to the complaint, Reed attempted to ignite the liquid, but the victim fought him off and ran toward the front of the train. Reed then reportedly lit the bottle, dropped it, and subsequently picked it up again while it was on fire, using it to set the victim ablaze.
“Reed then ran to the front of the train car and stood watching Victim A as her body was engulfed in flames.”
The victim, who was almost completely engulfed in flames, attempted to extinguish herself by rolling on the floor of the train car. Afterward, she exited the train while still on fire when it arrived at the Clark and Lake Street Blue Line platform. There, two good Samaritans helped put out the flames.
Chicago police arrested Reed on Tuesday, and he was still wearing the same clothes as seen in the attack footage, along with having fire-related injuries to his right hand.
While he was being transported, he reportedly made “repeated spontaneous and unprompted utterances, specifically yelling, ‘burn b*tch’ and ‘burn alive b*tch.'”
Court papers filed on Wednesday in the state case against Reed for the train attack indicate that he had violated his curfew several times in November, including on the day of the attack. He exceeded his curfew on November 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, and on that fateful Monday, the 17th. Court records indicate that some of those days had an “escalated alert.”
Reed has been charged with committing a terrorist attack against a mass transportation system, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said. Andrew Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District, issued a statement saying:
“This horrific attack was not just a barbaric assault on an innocent woman riding a train, but an act of terrorism that strikes at the core of our American way of life.”
During a press briefing, Chris Amon, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Chicago Field Office, reiterated that the “horrific act of violence” was unprovoked.
“Lawrence Reed had no business being on the streets, given his violent criminal history and his pending criminal cases. Reed had plenty of second chances by the criminal justice system, and as a result, you have an innocent victim in the hospital fighting for her life.”
If convicted, Reed faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison. That is little consolation for the 26-year-old, who is in critical condition, lying in a hospital burn unit. Her life has been changed forever because of asinine Democrats and liberal judges who refuse to do the right thing.
