A Year's Delay in Charges Cost Another Life

Justice delayed seems to be standard operating procedure. Prosecutors say he killed a man on video and in front of witnesses, but he wasn't charged. Three months later, he allegedly killed someone else. - CWB Chicago

Almost exactly one year ago, Adrian Soto allegedly killed his girlfriend’s ex in front of multiple witnesses in a grocery parking lot in Chicago. But, even though officials say the murder was captured on video and was seen by people who know Soto personally, he was not charged with the crime until this week.

In the interim, prosecutors say, Soto shot up his ex-girlfriend’s house, killing a man sleeping inside.

He is now charged with two counts of first-degree murder and a host of other felonies.

You would think that with video evidence and eyewitness testimony that the Cook County State's Attorney's Office could come up with charges. You might think that, but you would be wrong.

The reason for the delay is not known.

Well, I'm sure that part of the problem is that people have been fleeing the State's Attorney's Office like rats deserting a sinking ship. (At least 235 people have left that office in the past year. Ref.)

This also isn't the first time that the State's Attorney's office has refused to file changes based on video evidence in a murder. A famous incident (famous in Chicago anyway) was of the 2020 murder of a taxi driver by an Uber driver. Because charging people with crimes is not fair, and keeping violent offenders in jail is not fair.

Now the case of the 2nd guy killed in this instance was not of a bad guy killing a choir boy. It is more along the lines of what Second City Cop would have called the self-cleaning oven at work. It was the new-boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend, in a classic case of "How dare you live without me" and "If I can't have you" bullshit. My point is it could have been anyone.

I also still believe that all life has value.

And as I said at the time of the taxi driver's murder, no one in the Illinois State's Attorney's Office for Chicago and Cook County cares about Justice. They care about social justice, which is why they don't want criminals to be in jail. That is mean, and maybe unfair.