A Chicago prosecutor did not intend to say that 13-year-old Adam Toledo had a gun when he was fatally shot by police in late March, according to the findings of an internal investigation released Wednesday.
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
First Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Coleman is resigning after the office’s investigation of an in-court statement a fellow prosecutor made about the deadly Chicago police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.
In a statement Wednesday announcing the conclusion of its review, the state’s attorney office said the investigation “revealed a breakdown of communication in how information was shared, which ultimately did not get elevated to State’s Attorney [Kim] Foxx before, nor in a timely manner following, the bond court hearing.”
The statement made no mention of Coleman’s resignation, which Foxx announced separately in an internal email to staff.
UpdatedWed, May 5, 2021 at 2:02 pm CT
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State s Attorney Kim Foxx during the R. Kelly trial. (Getty Images)
ILLINOIS First Assistant State s Attorney Jennifer Coleman announced she is resigning after an investigation into a statement made by a prosecutor during a bond hearing that gave the impression 13-year-old Adam Toledo was holding a gun when a Chicago police officer shot him. He was not.
In a proffer read by prosecutor James Murphy during the bond hearing for Ruben Roman, the man who was arrested at the scene of Adam s shooting, Murphy gave an overview of the officer s involvement leading up to him firing his weapon.
A misleading description of 13-year-old Adam Toledoâs fatal shooting by police was given in court by a prosecutor because of a communication breakdown at top levels of Cook County Stateâs Attorney Kim Foxxâs office, an internal investigation found.
âThe checks and balances that should have been in place for someone to be able to review, to ensure that what was being said in court aligned with the information that the office had. It didnât work,â Foxx told the Tribune in an interview.
The prosecutor who gave the inadvertently faulty statement in court last month, James Murphy, was restored to his position after about two weeks of administrative leave, according to a news release Wednesday making the investigationâs findings public. Murphy âdid not intend to give the impressionâ that Toledo was holding a gun at the precise moment he was shot, the news release stated.