Dec 2, 2008 2:36 pm US/Central
Teen Sentenced For Beating Witness In Cop Shooting
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
A teenage girl who pleaded guilty to robbing and beating a female witness in the murder case of Chicago Police officer Robert Soto and his friend Kathryn Romberg was sentenced Tuesday to at least six months incarceration in a juvenile facility.
The 16-year-old could spend more time behind bars depending on her behavior there, according to Andy Conklin, spokesman for the Cook County State's Attorney's office. Conklin said she cannot be incarcerated past her 19th birthday.
The girl was apparently angry because her former friend spoke to police about Jason Austin, at one time the sole suspect in the high-profile Aug. 13 murders, prosecutors said previously.
The state's attorney's office dropped charges against Austin, 26, citing "challenges with witness statements" on Sept. 10. That was the same day the teen and her relative, 18-year-old Tashianda Howland, were arrested for harassing the witness.
In a Sept. 6 attack on the West Side, the pair allegedly pushed the witness to the ground, kicked and punched her, Assistant State's Attorney Kathleen Kain said Nov. 18. The 16-year-old took the witness' cell phone and $50, and told the girl not to squeal on Austin, Kain said before Juvenile Court Judge Carol Kelly as the young victim looked on.
"You're steady talking, running your mouth about J-Rock (Austin's nickname)," Kain said the girl told the victim.
The 16-year-old also punched and beat the witness in the face with a lock attached to a string in the 600 block of North Troy on Aug. 19, Kain said. During that beating, the girl told the witness, "Stop tricking on J-Rock," Kain said.
Howland, who pleaded guilty to simple battery in October, was sentenced to nine months court supervision and community service.
While former State's Attorney Dick Devine and police Supt. Jody Weis have stressed that Austin's release did not preclude further charges, no one has been charged in Soto and Romberg's murders since.
Soto, 49, and Kathryn Romberg, 45, a social worker for the state Department of Children and Family Services, were shot to death as they sat in Soto's SUV outside her home in the 3000 block of West Franklin Boulevard. She died at the scene. He died a day later.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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