Chicago City Wire

The fact that State Attorney Kim Foxx charged John Pina’s alleged killer with lesser gun charges is questionable, according to Pat O’Brien, a candidate who is trying to unseat Foxx in November.

The defendant, Tyrone Cavitt, allegedly killed the underage Pina in October 2018 and currently remains under house arrest with an ankle monitor, according to media reports.

The Cook County sheriff’s website states that an ankle monitoring device typically occurs before trial and is in place to address overcrowding in the penal system.

“When he was arrested, the state then dismissed the murder charge and went with a gun charge only,” O’Brien told the Chicago City Wire.

A former judge, O’Brien spoke at a press conference in the Little Village neighborhood over the weekend, organized by the Pina family to raise awareness.

“This problem arises with a lot of the homicide cases that the state's attorney is presented with,” said O’Brien, a Republican who served as Cook County Circuit Court judge for eight years. “The kinds of things that she's looking for aren't there necessarily with a murder case. My understanding was initially when the arrest warrant was proved, there was a single eye witness and that there was a videotape which showed the defendant fleeing from or near the scene with what appeared to be a gun in his possession.”

O’Brien added that he’s disappointed in Foxx, a Democrat, because a single eye witness should be sufficient to establish murder charges along with the video.

“She really lacks the experience to understand what kind of proof will convince a jury or a judge that a case has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said. “She, herself, has admitted that she's only tried one felony case and murder cases are such that you're always going to have some missing evidence because the key witness, usually in cases other than murder, is the victim. So, the victim in a murder case is always going to be missing or unavailable to testify. You really have to then try to understand what is it that is sufficient to convince a judge or a jury and an eye witness that's believable is sufficient.”

The Pina family is currently asking that Foxx review the case and charge the suspect with murder.

“I can't recall if the family indicated that John Pina knew the defendant from before,” O’Brien said. “Somebody who is a community activist got a hold of my campaign and told us the family is very upset about it and they explained the situation. It just seems like it is the kind of case that epitomizes the problems that Kim Foxx has.”

O’Brien has been calling for Foxx's removal since he filed nominating paperwork for Cook County state’s attorney on Dec. 2, 2019.