COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A Cook County judge on Friday appointed Patricia Brown Holmes as the special prosecutor who will investigate Chicago Police officers who were at the scene of the Laquan McDonald shooting.
Holmes is a Far South Side native who has previously worked as a federal prosecutor, defense attorney and judge, she told reporters Friday.
Holmes is no stranger to high-profile cases, having previously been appointed the trustee to handle the aftermath of the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal, in which cemetery workers were convicted of desecrating bodies in suburban Alsip.
Chief Judge Leroy K. Martin Jr. announced Holmes' appointment Friday in response to a petition filed earlier this year seeking special prosecutors to investigate both Officer Jason Van Dyke — who's been charged with murdering McDonald — and his colleagues who were on the scene of the fatal October 2014 shooting.
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez in a surprise move in May announced she would recuse herself from Van Dyke's pending murder case. Van Dyke's trial judge, Vincent Gaughan, is expected to announce a replacement next week at an Aug. 4 hearing.
“This is very happy news today,” said Locke Bowman, one of the attorneys behind the February petition. Bowman said he holds Holmes in “great regard, great respect and great confidence.”
"It's a great responsibility" to investigate these Chicago Police officers, Holmes said Friday.
"It's not a matter of choosing sides and then coming to a result. It's a matter of looking at every single piece of evidence, and then making a decision based on what that evidence is. Many of us think we know what the evidence is because we've heard this or heard that. ... But I'm going into this with a clean slate."
Holmes urged the public to be patient as the process could take time. She will next meet with Chief Judge Martin on Sep. 12.
Holmes was born in San Diego, she said, but grew up on the Far South Side. She holds both a bachelor's and a law degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the founder and past president of the Black Women Lawyers Association Chicago, and was previously an associate judge in Cook County.
Despite widespread allegations of a cover-up, Van Dyke is the only Chicago Police officer charged in the fatal shooting of McDonald, 17. Van Dyke is currently free on bond as he awaits trial for murder.
McDonald had been stealing car radios and was armed with a three-inch blade when Chicago Police officers in Archer Heights called in a radio request for a Taser on Oct. 20, 2014, prosecutors have said.
Van Dyke and his partner responded to the call, but never specified whether they had a Taser. Within seconds of arriving on the scene, Van Dyke pulled his gun and emptied his clip into McDonald, shooting the teen 16 times, according to authorities. Video of the shooting, which was released via a court order in November 2015, sparked citywide protests that shut down the Mag Mile.
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