Two times in the last month, families of murder victims allegedly shot by perpetrators out of jail while on electronic monitoring awaiting felony trial have sued Cook County, Illinois.  CWBChicago reports:

The latest case was filed Wednesday on behalf of the estate of Keith Cooper, a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran who was killed during a carjacking in Chicago last summer.

Attorneys for Cooper's estate based the claim on the same general grounds as a similar suit filed last month on behalf of another murder victim’s estate: that Cook County is putting potentially violent people on home confinement without adequately monitoring them.

One year ago, prosecutors charged Dushawn Williams and Frank Harris with killing Cooper during a hijacking attempt in a strip mall parking lot at 1236 East 53rd Street.

Williams, who was a juvenile at the time of the alleged murder, was supposed to be home on EM for a felony stolen motor vehicle case, according to the lawsuit and statements made in court by prosecutors last year.

Prosecutors said last year that Harris, now 19, pleaded guilty to another carjacking case just two months before the murder. He was supposed to be on EM as part of his probation sentence in that case, according to the lawsuit.

One year ago, prosecutors charged Dushawn Williams and Frank Harris with killing Cooper during a hijacking attempt in a strip mall parking lot at 1236 East 53rd Street.

Williams, who was a juvenile at the time of the alleged murder, was supposed to be home on EM for a felony stolen motor vehicle case, according to the lawsuit and statements made in court by prosecutors last year.

Prosecutors said last year that Harris, now 19, pleaded guilty to another carjacking case just two months before the murder. He was supposed to be on EM as part of his probation sentence in that case, according to the lawsuit.

The Cook County Sheriff's Department denies that either man was in its electronic monitoring program, but the Chief Judge's Office of Cook County also runs an electronic monitoring program.

Lawyers for the estates of Cooper and Shanate Guy, the victim in the first lawsuit, claim Cook County, Dart, and Evans put over 3,500 people onto the EM program, but only staffed 110 people to monitor an average of 850 violations per day.

Dominiko Johnson, who allegedly killed Guy, was the 26th person accused of killing, shooting, or trying to kill or shoot someone in Chicago last year while on felony bail.

Williams, who is charged with killing Cooper, was the 27th.

Cook County and Chicago have an enormous problem of murder and attempted murder by people out on bail or released subject to electronic monitoring.  In 2020, at least 51 cases were recorded of people out on bail shooting or shooting at victims.  The details of the crime against Cooper, contained in the CWBChicago story, are heartbreaking.

It is very difficult to win lawsuits against the justice system for failure to prevent crime, but perhaps these separate lawsuits have a chance of influencing the county to step up its enforcement.

Hat tip: Peter von Buol.

Photo credit: Charlie De Mar/CBS2 via Twitter and CWBChicago.