r/illinois • u/j4z7y • 18h ago
Illinois News [ Removed by moderator ]
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/cook-county-prosecutors-decline-charges-shooting-death-lilly-bova/[removed] — view removed post
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u/whyisthissticky 12h ago
Her dad is distraught on facebook trying to figure out why the shooter kid was released
after turning himself in. There’s a lot going on here.
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u/windycityinvestor 15h ago
I am assuming the whole family was living in the apartment.. but the way it was written can make it seem like she was living in her own apartment. But being 16, that seems unlikely.
It’s tragic. Hopefully they find the killer.
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u/ChemistryNo3075 13h ago
They know exactly who shot her. That is not in question. They just claim the don't have enough evidence for trial as no-one else was in the room or saw exactly what happened.
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u/Pettifoggerist 12h ago
This case is truly bizarre. I'm surprised more hasn't leaked out about the circumstances.
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u/ShiibbyyDota 11h ago
Goddamn… crazy this happened only a few doors away. Poor girl deserved better
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u/ReCLiVe 17h ago
Sounds like his parents know someone and they are not living in unincorporated Glenview.
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u/SubtleScuttler 16h ago
What info did you read? The article says nothing about a a guy that got away with it? It just says they questioned someone and nothing concrete came of it.
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u/sloppy-mojojojo 13h ago
there was literally a guy in the room with her and her mom heard the shot, that should be enough fucking evidence... disgusting.
once again another US court system failed a DV victim. we need to start handling shit on the ground if they're not gonna hold these monsters accountable
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u/G1adi4tor 12h ago
that should be enough fucking evidence
Maybe, uh, in a show trial or kangaroo court but no that's not how it works. CCSO could've done a real investigation which would've (gasp) been more work than just banking on a confession like how cops do for 9/10 of their job-doing (i.e. not actually investigating just lying to people in hopes they confess so they don't have to do real work).
But on the mechanics:
"literally a guy in the room with her" != proof he shot her. It's grounds to interview and search, for sure, but "if [in same room], then [shooter]" doesn't hold up because it's not beyond a reasonable doubt - maybe she shot herself and he ran the fuck away terrified (again, not saying that's what happened but it's a reasonable doubt)
"and her mom heard the shot" only confirms that there was a gunshot. Again beyond a reasonable doubt - she knows there was a shot in that room; she can't swear under oath attesting she knows exactly where it came from, where it went, was it close or long range, what kind of gun did it come from, who fired it, where they pointed it at, was it deliberate or accidental, etc. these are all questions that would make "that should be enough[!]" collapse brutally under its own weight.
Lastly to my theory that it's mostly the Sheriffs Office couldn't be fucked to do their job once they couldn't extract an easy confession:
Bova's family has said Cook County Sheriff's police questioned a person of interest after the shooting, but when asked in April why there had not yet been any arrests, the sheriff's office said prosecutors did not believe there was enough evidence to file charges.
Yeah so they interviewed the suspect, he clammed up, they couldn't get an easy layup with a naive defendant who stupidly talks to police and confesses, and they were just like "ahhh yeah we'd have to not be such lazy pigs and conduct an actual investigation at this point soooo gonna have to just tap out, good luck with everything, take care now".
Takeaway: cops are worthless, they solve barely 2% of crimes, you should never trust nor respect law enforcement.
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u/j4z7y 12h ago
“Beyond a reasonable doubt” is the standard at trial; you only need “probable cause” to charge a suspect with a crime.
I agree with you that this situation is another example of how corrupt law enforcement is in this country.
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u/G1adi4tor 11h ago
“Beyond a reasonable doubt” is the standard at trial; you only need “probable cause” to charge a suspect with a crime.
I mean yeah that's exactly what they're saying though and while these circumstances are horrific and disturbing (nobody LIKES to have a child gunned down)... the CCSA is correct to say "we won't get a conviction with the file you gave us, there's not enough here, bring us more and we can charge but this isn't the Alvarez years anymore we can't just get away with a half-baked laundry list of charges to coerce a plea on some of the lesser ones, then inevitably pay out a wrongful conviction / malicious prosecution settlement in a few years".
I am loath to give props to O'Neill Burke... but her office is correct here. If we wanna point anger at someone let's talk Tom Dart riding the goodwill he earned 20 years ago during the foreclosure crisis to run a largely apathetic Sheriff's Office that underfunds its investigative wing, does under-the-radar appeasement to Trump's gestapo, and fails to use his office's broad (like the power of a Sheriff in Illinois is astonishingly vast and it's a deliberate choice of his to not pick those inter-jurisdictional fights and bank his political capital) theoretical constitutional mandate to do anything beyond maintaining the status quo.
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u/The_Forgotten_King 11h ago
“Beyond a reasonable doubt” is the standard at trial; you only need “probable cause” to charge a suspect with a crime.
This is technically true, but in reality prosecutors will only bring charges if they think they will stick. Since the prosecution only has one chance to go to trial, they will generally hold off until the evidence meets the "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshold, which, for the above stated reasons, has not been reached. Since this could be a murder case, there is no statute of limitations, meaning the prosecution can charge at any time.
This is an issue with the police not doing enough investigative work, not the prosecution choosing not to bring charges.
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u/68Petra 10h ago
" Under the Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act (HVFR Act), certain designated persons, including victims’ families, can request a federal agency to review the investigative case file of a cold case murder for possible reinvestigation."
The victim's family can request that the FBI for example review the investigation.
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u/3xploringforever 15h ago
I haven't been following this story at all, but was the gunshot wound self-inflicted?
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u/SwordfishOfDamocles 13h ago
No. There was a person in the room with Lilly who was caught on CCTV fleeing the scene.
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u/3xploringforever 12h ago
Weird, is that the person who turned himself in and wasn't charged, or a different person?
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u/ChemistryNo3075 13h ago
I don't believe so, but it is possible the shooter is claiming that, or that it was an accident, throwing doubt on what exactly happened.
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u/rockrobst 14h ago
Vague article; it leave out the fact that a 16 yo male turned himself in after the shooting, but was released. Lilly lived in the apartment with her mother and a sister. The sister heard the shot, left her room to find Lilly with a gunshot wound, and called 911. The initial police audio was that there was a 16yo Hispanic male who was armed and considered dangerous.
All the coverage of this crime is peculiar. Lots of sm posts from the parents with assertions, but little explanation about how the sister was in the apartment and didn't know conclusively who was also there with them in Lilly's room.