March 27--A teenager who was scheduled to go on trial Thursday on charges he hid from police the revolver used to kill a 14-year-old girl moments after the shooting pleaded guilty to a felony weapons charge in Cook County juvenile court.
As part of a plea deal, Judge Stuart Paul Katz told the teen he would sentence him in May to 18 months of probation and 40 hours of community service if the teen stayed out of trouble.
Prosecutors had asked for jail time for the first-time offender, whom the Tribune is not naming because he was charged as a juvenile. He faced up to three years in juvenile detention for his guilty plea to one count aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
There was no allegation that the special education student, 17 at the time, took part in the Back of the Yards shooting of Endia Martin. She was killed when another 14-year-old girl opened fire on a group of girls in a dispute over a boy that had been fanned on social media, prosecutors have said.
The girl, who is also charged as a juvenile, is expected to go to trial later this year.
The girl's uncle, Donnell Flora, who is paralyzed from an earlier gang shooting, allegedly took a bus to deliver the loaded .38-caliber pistol to her. Police then saw him pass the gun to the teen after the shooting, prosecutors said.
Flora is awaiting trial on first-degree murder and attempted murder charges.
The teenager's attorney, Amber Miller, an assistant public defender, questioned how her client was injured during his arrest. He suffered a fractured skull and traumatic brain injuries, but a detective testified at an earlier hearing that the teen jumped onto the hood of a pursuing squad car, fell off and hit his head.
The teen spent 10 days in a hospital during which he gave a confession to detectives while handcuffed to a Stroger Hospital bed, according to testimony.
"I don't think anyone believes that he jumped at the (police) car," Miller said outside court Thursday. "That's the line police are going to go with because they're not ever going to say they hit a minor with a car to arrest him."
Assistant State's Attorney Athena Farmakis said in court Thursday that officers responding to a shooting noticed Flora hand something covered in a jacket to the teen near 58th and Halsted streets.
As the teen started running, the officers saw a gun in his right hand and pursued him, she said. He dropped the gun in an alley just east of the intersection and continued running until he was arrested, she said.
Police recovered a .38 Special revolver in the alley that prosecutors have said was used to kill Endia.
The teen, now 18 and free on bail, and his mother declined to comment after Thursday's hearing.
sschmadeke@tribpub.com
