The Venezuelan unlawful immigrant accused of murdering Loyola College pupil Sheridan Gorman is lacking part of his mind and has the “growth of a kid,” his lawyer stated in courtroom Friday.
Jose Medina-Medina, 25, was held with out bail by Chicago Decide D’Anthony Thedford after his protection legal professional argued he’s cognitively challenged from a earlier gunshot wound to the pinnacle, in accordance with stories by Chicago Solar Instances author David Struett on X.
Medina-Medina was shot within the head throughout a theft when he was residing along with his mother in Colombia, the place they fled in 2016 after the mom was allegedly raped by a authorities official, his protection legal professional, Julie Koehler stated.
The damage left Medina-Medina with part of his mind lacking and compelled him to need to relearn primary features like strolling and speaking, the protection legal professional claimed.
“At the moment he has the mind growth of a kid,” Koehler advised the decide.
Koehler’s feedback may recommend they’ll search an madness protection.
After Thedford ordered Medina-Medina to be held with out bail till trial, Koehler requested that he be handled for epilepsy and tuberculosis.
Medina-Medina needed to seem for the listening to by video from a hospital room, sporting a surgical masks since he’s constructive for the extremely contagious bacterial lung an infection. He listened with the assistance of a Spanish translator.
He’s being handled on the well being facility contained in the Prepare dinner County Jail, the place his lawyer requested he stay in order that immigration officers don’t arrest and deport him.
Relations of Gorman, 18, additionally appeared by video for the listening to.
Prosecutors in courtroom Friday claimed Medina-Medina left his condominium close to the Tobey Prinz Seashore in a ski masks and killed Gorman on March 19.
Gorman — a freshman and a local of Westchester, New York — and 5 buddies had been on a Chicago pier to identify the northern lights.
The chums had been snapping selfies when Medina-Medina jumped out from a hiding spot, the prosecutor alleged.
Gorman, who had noticed somebody within the shadows, whispered to inform the group somebody was lurking, the prosecutor claimed.
The group dispersed and Medina-Medina fired as soon as, hitting Gorman within the again because the friends hid within the grass and behind a concrete barrier, the prosecutor argued.
Medina-Medina then paced across the pier earlier than leaving the realm, when the chums got here out of their hiding spots and located Gorman unconscious, the prosecutor alleged.
He was arrested after his mother helped to establish him from surveillance video.
Medina-Medina was let into the nation by Border Patrol in 2023. He has a previous arrest for shoplifting however was launched from jail due to the Windy Metropolis’s sanctuary legal guidelines.
Medina-Medina is charged with first-degree homicide, weapons costs and associated crimes. He’s due again in courtroom on April 15.
“It is a heartbreaking and mindless act of violence that took the lifetime of younger lady together with her total future forward of her and leaves a convincing influence on her buddies who witnessed this terrifying capturing,” stated Prepare dinner County State’s Lawyer Eileen O’Neill Burke. “Our ideas are with Sheridan’s household, her buddies, and the Loyola College neighborhood as they grieve this profound loss.”
“Our workplace is dedicated to looking for justice for Sheridan and holding the defendant totally accountable as we prosecute this case to the fullest extent,” O’Neill Burke stated within the assertion.
