Witness -- Balfour Wanted to Split for Miss.

91. Thank You Southsidechicago-- I hope they have more evidence than he went into a jealous rage. It looks like he did move on with his personal life. Maybe he did not want to give up his connection with fame!! This case gets stranger by the day I just don't know what to think any more. I guess we will have to wait for the trial to start and hear all the evidence that the CPD has on William before we say he is guilty or not guilty.

Posted at 1:11AM on Dec 14th 2008 by Blue Eyes

92. Here's an article from one of our local columnists Mary Mitchell, who has many of the same doubts I do about how "simple: this case really is:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/1313874,CST-NWS-mitch04.article

Mary references another recent situation in Chicago where there was a rush to judgment. An off-duty CPD officer and a social worker were shot while sitting in his SUV in front of her home (where they had been sitting, and supposedly arguing, for several hours, according to neighbors). The woman was killed at the scene; the officer died of his injuries a few days later.

Police were quick to characterize this as an armed robbery. But the female victim's family didn't understand this, since none of her cash or belongings had been taken. Suspect was identified as a young man in the area who'd been detained previously. Supposedly, the police had "witnesses" who said they had seen this young man, Jason Austin, driving to and from the scene in his own car, and that he’d bragged to them about what he had done afterward. He claimed to know nothing of the crime; his alibi was that he’d been at home asleep at the time, and couldn’t have driven himself anywhere anyhow because his car was in the shop for repairs. When it was proven that this was correct (testimony and repair tickets from the mechanics at the shop), police announced that they could not go forward with charges because the “witnesses” had recanted their testimony out of fear of retaliation.

It turns out there was more to the story than met the eye. The police officer was married, and the social worker, according to her family, had just recently ended a significant relationship with *another* officer, who was very jealous and had been harassing her… and, he happened to know the officer she’d recently started seeing. Definitely a high risk relationship, with a jealous ex-boyfriend and a betrayed wife in the mix.

Of course, no one *deserves* to die because they happen to exercise poor judgment in their personal relationships. But the attempt to pin the crime on a young man who was an easy target (young African American man from a challenged urban community, who’d had some previous brushes with the law) as a way to avoid embarrassment to the families of the victims ultimately didn’t work. We’ve heard nothing further in the media about this case, so I don’t know if it’s ever officially been “solved” or not.

I definitely think there are some parallels here. Perhaps police did tend to “look the other way” regarding what may have been happening around Jason and Julia. Some have suggested that this was because of Jennifer’s “celebrity status,” but it’s more likely due to the fact that Chicago’s Englewood community is so troubled with the socioeconomic issues related to gangs and drugs. Police simply don’t have the manpower and resources to fully prosecute everyone who’s involved in “the thug life” so they have to choose their battles. Whatever the case, ignoring the realities by finding a convenient scapegoat ultimately doesn’t hide the truth.

Posted at 12:06AM on Dec 16th 2008 by southsidechicago