Veteran Chicago prosecutor is put on LEAVE for not telling court Adam Toledo, 13, was unarmed the moment CPD officer shot him dead - when teen had dropped gun a second before
A veteran Cook County prosecutor was placed on administrative leave after he 'failed to fully present the facts' during a bond hearing for cop who shot dead 13-year-old Adam Toledo.
On Friday, Kim Foxx, Cook County State's Attorney who famously presided over the Jussie Smollett case, placed Assistant State's Attorney James Murphy on paid leave after he suggested Toledo was still armed when Officer Eric Stillman pulled the trigger.
'In court last week, an attorney in our office failed to fully present the facts surrounding the death of a 13-year-old boy,' Foxx spokeswoman Sarah Sinovic said in a statement. 'We have put that individual on leave and are conducting an internal investigation into the matter.'
Murphy had been speaking at a bond hearing on April 10 for Ruben Roman, 21, who was with Adam when he was killed.
'The officer tells [Adam] to drop it as [Adam] turns towards the officer. [Adam] has a gun in his right hand,' Murphy said. 'The officer fires one shot at [Adam], striking him in the chest. The gun that [Adam] was holding landed against the fence a few feet away.'
However, viral video of the March 29 incident showed the teen drop his weapon before he was gunned down by a Chicago police officer.
'The language of the proffer (prosecution statement of charges) did not fully reflect all the evidence that had been given to our office,' Foxx wrote in an internal memo, according to The Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Cook County Assistant State's Attorney James Murphy is pictured in 2019. He has been placed on paid leave while the office investigates comments he made during an April 10 bond hearing
Kim Foxx, Cook County State's Attorney, has put Murphy on paid leave after he suggested on April 10 that Adam was still holding the gun as Officer Eric Stillman pulled the trigger
This image from Chicago Police Department body cam video shows the moment before Chicago Police officer Eric Stillman fatally shot Adam, who is pictured with his hands empty
Toledo dropped or tossed the weapon away less than a second before the officer pulled the trigger, video showed. Police found the gun next to a fence a short distance away after the shooting.
Sinovic had suggested earlier on Friday that Murphy may not have had access to all of the video that was released to the public on Thursday when he made the comments.
She said in an email on Saturday that the office would not comment on who else in the office viewed the video footage before the April 10 hearing.
'It´s still under investigation what videos were available to (Murphy). We´re still trying to figure out what he had access to when he made the statements in court.'
Adam Toledo, 13, is pictured before he was shot to death by Chicago cop Eric Stillman
Despite the video showing that Adam was unarmed, Stillman's attorney Tim Grace claimed the boy was holding a gun at the moment he was shot
Stillman's attorney Tim Grace told the local outlet Block Club Chicago on Thursday that he doesn't expect his client will be charged with a crime for the shooting. He told that he was retained by a police union to represent his client.
'I do not think he will be prosecuted for a crime, and I do believe that if COPA and the Police Department are fair and look at the undisputed evidence, he will be exonerated of any type of a charge,' Grace told the outlet.
Despite the video showing that Adam was unarmed, Grace claimed the boy was holding a gun at the moment he was shot, Block Club Chicago reported.
'He has a gun in his right hand,' Grace said of Toledo. 'There's no doubt in the world that he has a gun in his right hand.'
Roman was arrested at the scene on misdemeanor charges of resisting or obstructing a peace officer.
He was later charged with felony counts of child endangerment, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and reckless discharge of a firearm after investigators determined that he fired the gun several times before police arrived.
Roman remains in custody at Cook County Jail after a judge ordered him held on $150,000.
Images of the boy raising his empty hands as he was shot have elicited anger in the Little Village neighborhood where he lived and died, and elsewhere the city.
On Friday night, two people were arrested by Chicago police as thousands of protesters marched through Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood to demand justice after Adam's death, WMAQ-TV reported.
Anthony McCollom, 20, was charged with reckless conduct after he was allegedly part of a large crowd seen shoving cops, officials told the outlet.
Graham Lefauve, 18, was charged with aggravated battery of a police officer after he was riding his bicycle when he allegedly 'split into a vehicle of Chicago police, striking one of the officers,' WMAG-TV reported.
Protesters on Friday noted that the video showed Adam's hands up when he was shot
On Friday night, two people were arrested by Chicago police as thousands of protesters marched through Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood
Activists rally and protest near Mayor Lori Lightfoot's home in the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago, a day after the release of body camera footage that shows a Chicago police officer fatally shooting Adam Toledo in late March
On Friday night, two people were arrested by Chicago police as thousands of protesters marched through Chicago to demand justice after Adam's death
A man holds a sign that reads 'Adam's Life Mattered!' as protesters gathered in Chicago on Friday
Thousands of protesters take streets for Adam Toledo on Friday
A protester holds a sign claiming that the Chicago Police Department 'murders children'
The prosecutor did not 'make an error.' He lied,' the Democrat Representative from New York's 14th congressional district wrote. 'He lied about the police killing a child,' she added. 'Ending this isn't just about consequences for who pulls the trigger. It's about admitting to and confronting an entire system that exists to protect, defend, and cover up state violence.'
After the body camera footage was released, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused Murphy of lying in a tweet on Thursday.
'The prosecutor did not 'make an error.' He lied,' the Democrat Representative from New York's 14th congressional district wrote.
'He lied about the police killing a child,' she added.
'Ending this isn't just about consequences for who pulls the trigger. It's about admitting to and confronting an entire system that exists to protect, defend, and cover up state violence.'
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., a fellow member of 'The Squad' - a group of progressive Democrats - tweeted: 'He was 13 years old and the police executed him' last on Thursday after the released of the footage of the shooting.
Police had said they responded before dawn on the morning of the shooting after a police technology detected gun shots there.
The teen, who was Latino, and a 21-year-old, named as Ruben Roman Jr, fled on foot when confronted by police, and an officer shot the teen once in the chest following a foot chase during what the department described as an armed confrontation.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, an independent board that investigates Chicago police shootings, initially said it couldn't release the video because it involved the shooting of a minor.
Chicago cop Eric Stillman allegedly shot a boy who was unarmed with his hands raised
Stillman's attorney said he doesn't expect that he will be charged with a crime for the shooting
The Chicago Police Department released a photo of the gun that was recovered from the scene after one of its officers shot and killed Adam Toledo last Monday
However, it changed course after Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago's police superintendent called for the video's release.
The footage shows that it took 19 seconds from when Stillman, 34, exited his squad car to when he shot the teen.
After getting out of the vehicle, the officer chases Toledo on foot down an alley for several seconds.
'Stop right f***ing now!' the officer yells at the fleeing teen. 'Show me your f***ing hands! Drop it'
When Toledo turns around to face the officer, he appears to raise his hands. A moment later, a single shot rings out and the teen collapses to the ground, with blood gushing from his mouth.
Adam's family attorney Adeena Weiss-Ortiz said Thursday: 'Those videos speak for themselves. If you are shooting an unarmed child with his hands in the air it is an assassination.
'His hands were empty when he was shot in the chest at the hands of the officer.
'Adam during his last seconds of life did not have a gun in his hand. Adam complied. He did not have a gun in his hand. The officer saw his hands were up and pulled the trigger.'
The attorney added: 'It is especially important to keep the peace. [The family] want justice.'
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