The family of a woman who was the victim of an apparent murder-suicide is suing the Cook County sheriff and chief judge, claiming they bear responsibility for her death by placing the alleged murderer in an electronic monitoring program they knew was not being adequately managed.
Shanate Guy, 18, and her boyfriend Dominiko Johnson, 20, were found dead together with gunshot wounds to the head, where a weapon was found at the scene, in the southside of Chicago in June 2021, Fox 32 reported citing the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
“An autopsy released Tuesday found Johnson died of a gunshot wound to his head and Guy died of a gunshot wound to her face, the medical examiner’s office said,” Fox 32 noted at the time. “Johnson’s death was ruled a suicide and Guy’s death was ruled a homicide.”
At the time of his death, Johnson had two pending felony cases involving firearms in Cook County, CWB Chicago reported. After being released on bond by Judge David Navarro in April 2020 for the first felony case, the same judge set Johnson’s bail at $50,000 and ordered him to be held without bail for breaking the terms of his previous bond following a charge in another felony case.
Johnson was later placed in the Cook County electric monitoring program after he posted a $15,000 bail deposit in March 2021, CWB noted, citing court documents.
The family estate of Guy is now claiming in a lawsuit that the Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart and Chief Judge Timothy Evans hold responsibility for Guy’s death because they did not stop Johnson from committing his alleged murder after being placed in the electric monitoring program, Cook County Record reported.
The lawsuit also alleges that both Dart and Evans were aware that the program was faulty because they did not have the resources to run it properly.
“In the suit, lawyers claim that the Cook County Sheriff’s Office EM program had 3,500 participants and received about 850 violation alerts every day at the time of Guy’s death, but the department only had 110 staff members assigned to the EM program,” according to CWB Chicago.
According to the Cook County website, regarding the electric monitoring program:
[It] [i]s a pre-trial monitoring program created to ease overcrowding in the Cook County Department of Corrections.
…
The monitoring program is used as a community-based alternative incarceration concept that allows pre-trial, and short-time sentenced individuals in custody to remain in the community instead of being incarcerated in jail. The average daily population of this program is well over 3,000. [Emphasis added]
The program tracks those who are enrolled via an ankle bracelet.
The suit also alleges that Dart once said on record the program “was never designed for violent criminals,” and it was in need of more resources to run it properly, Cook County Record noted.
In response to the lawsuit, Dart’s office released a statement calling the allegations “baseless,” as documented by Cook County Record:
Sheriff Dart has been adamant that electronic monitoring does not prevent violent offenders from continuing to engage in acts of violence. Despite these dire warnings violent offenders continue to be placed on electronic monitoring. Regardless, Sheriff’s personnel work tirelessly to monitor those ordered to the program and to prevent them from fleeing their charges or engaging in new crimes. Despite the tragedy, this lawsuit is without merit. The Sheriff’s Office will vigorously defend against what we believe are the complaint’s baseless allegations.
The suit was filed on June 17, and the case is titled Brandye McNair v. Cook County, No. 2022L005480 in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.
CWB Chicago also reported Sunday that authorities arrested a suspect who allegedly killed a Chicago convenience store owner. The suspect involved was reportedly in the electric monitoring program at the time of the shooting.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.
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