A Chicago man has been charged with threatening a public official after he proclaimed on Twitter that he was going to beat a Cook County judge — on the same day he appeared before the judge on felony weapons charges.
Jerome McKinney, 22, announced via Twitter on Tuesday that he and a co-defendant were going to “BEAT THE JUDGE ASS.” McKinney and the other man were in the Bridgeview Branch Court on charges related to a previous firearms case, prosecutors said Saturday.
Judge James R. Brown ordered McKinney held in lieu of $500,000 bail Saturday on the charge of threatening a public official.
The other man also said on “Twitter that he and (McKinney) would ‘BEAT THE JUDGE ASS’ unless they received probation,” said Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Cooper in court Saturday.
McKinney wasn’t done with the social media, she said.
While in court last Tuesday, McKinney also took a photo of himself and the other man in the Bridgeview courtroom where Cook County Circuit Judge Thomas Davy was presiding, Cooper said.
That photo was posted to Instagram with a caption that disparaged the judge and read: “I go to court ganged out,” Cooper said.
More Top Picks Best Fl 41 Glasses For Migraines
As of Saturday evening, the Twitter profile identified in court documents as McKinney’s was still active and the posts in question were still visible.
Police officers went to McKinney’s home Tuesday, according to court documents, and “(McKinney) voluntarily provided his cell phone and was able to unlock said phone and show … detectives the posts he made.”
McKinney, of the 6700 block of South Indiana Avenue, was in court Tuesday in connection with pending felony charges of aggravated unlawful use of a firearm, according to court documents, stemming from what police data indicate was an Oct. 25, 2014 arrest in the 7600 block of South Avalon Avenue.
The other man arrested in that incident was Justin Mitchell, 20, according to court records. McKinney is due back in court April 10.
[email protected] | Twitter: @NorthShoreTrib