COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A Cook County judge said Thursday he will consider turning over Laquan McDonald's juvenile records to Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke's defense team after first reviewing them.
During a brief hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, 2600 S. California Ave., Judge Vincent Gaughan ordered the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services to turn over to him 8,200 pages of juvenile records pertaining to McDonald.
Gaughan said he plans to review the DCFS records and decide whether they're appropriate to share with Van Dyke's defense team. The officer's lawyers have previously been denied access to the records in juvenile court, but Van Dyke's team is now seeking access to them through Gaughan, Van Dyke's trial judge.
The judge will address the matter further at Van Dyke's next court hearing, slated for Nov. 2.
The teen was fatally shot 16 times in October 2014 by the 38-year-old Van Dyke, who now faces charges of first-degree murder and official misconduct.
Defense attorney Dan Herbert said it would be "ludicrous" to deny him access to McDonald's confidential juvenile records since the teen displayed "extreme erratic behavior" the night he was killed and could've had an underlying medical condition pertinent to the defense.
According to prosecutors, McDonald had been stealing truck radios and was armed with a 3-inch blade when Chicago Police officers in Archer Heights called in a request for a Taser on Oct. 20, 2014.
Van Dyke and his partner responded to the call, but never specified whether they had a stun gun. Within seconds of arriving on the scene, Van Dyke pulled his gun and emptied his clip into McDonald, shooting the teen 16 times.
In court Thursday, Herbert said that McDonald had "a significant amount" of PCP in his system at the time of his death, and that that drug could've been reacting negatively with any prescription medication McDonald was taking.
Herbert insisted he was "entitled" to know more about the teen's personal and medical history before planning a trial defense.
Last month, Judge Patricia Martin ruled in juvenile court that Herbert should not be able to access the confidential files simply because Van Dyke is charged in the teen's death.
"This court is troubled by your argument that you have a [legal] standing because you represent a person who is charged with the murder of this young man. I don't find you have a special interest in these files," Martin said, the Tribune reported.
McDonald's relatives' attorneys have slammed the request as "a fishing expedition." And Kane County State's Attorney Joseph McMahon, who is serving as special prosecutor in Van Dyke's case, said Herbert never made a compelling argument for the files.
The announcement last month that McMahon would serve as prosecutor came three months after Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, in a surprise move, recused herself from the case. The recusal was likely a response to a February petition seeking a special prosecutor in the case — arguing that Alvarez couldn't be trusted because she had a "political alliance with the police union."
Van Dyke is free on $1.5 million bail as he awaits trial.
