CHICAGO_Four people charged with hate crimes for kidnapping and attacking a teen with mental disabilities live on Facebook video pleaded not guilty Friday during a brief arraignment.
Assistant public defenders representing Jordan Hill, 18, Tesfaye Cooper, 18, and sisters Tanishia, 24, and Brittany Covington, 19, entered the not-guilty pleas before Judge William Hooks, who was tapped Friday to hear the case, which has drawn national outrage. Nearly a dozen reporters attended the brief hearing.
Priscilla Covington, the sisters' grandmother, also attended. She stood and waved at the two, saying, "Oh, God" as they entered the courtroom in jail clothing.
Police allege that Hill met with the victim, a classmate in Aurora, at a McDonald's in suburban Streamwood on Dec. 31 and drove him to an apartment on Chicago's West Side. The 28-minute live-streamed video showed the group punching and kicking the victim, cutting his scalp and hair with a knife and forcing him to drink toilet water.
The defendants could be heard yelling on the video, "F _ _ Donald Trump" and "F _ _ white people" as the victim crouched in a corner, his mouth taped shut, hands and feet bound with what appeared to be orange electrical tape.
Prosecutors have said in court that the 18-year-old victim has schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and lives with his parents in Streamwood.
