Federal prosecutors say Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover’s effort to disqualify a judge from Hoover’s bid for a sentencing break is based on “frivolous” arguments and “factual inaccuracies.”
Although they don’t take a position on the motion to disqualify filed by Hoover’s attorneys, prosecutors also said the motion contains “unsupported suggestions,” according to a response to the motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The motion to disqualify was filed after a court hearing in September. Defense attorneys Jennifer Bonjean and Justin Moore argued that U.S. District Judge John Blakey showed “actual bias” toward Hoover by asking the defense to consider “how many murders is he responsible for?”
They also called the question “wildly out of bounds” and pointed to news reports about it. They specifically highlighted the Sept. 27 front page of the Chicago Sun-Times, which quoted the judge over a photo of Hoover.
According to the response filed Tuesday by prosecutors, the judge prefaced the question by noting that one of the government’s “key” arguments is that Hoover “decimated and destroyed tens of thousands of lives with violence, addiction and murder,” the document states.
By asking the question the judge was merely attempting to give the defense a chance to respond to the “tens of thousands” estimate that was put forth by the government, according to the document.
“The court repeatedly made clear that it was not crediting the government’s argument, but was giving defense counsel the opportunity to respond,” the document states. Prosecutors said the question was “wholly appropriate.”
The defense attorneys also noted in their motion that Blakey, in asking his question, stressed that Bonjean should answer it “as an officer of the court” — a reminder of her duty to tell the truth. They also said that Blakey suggested Bonjean ask Hoover for the answer, noting that “he probably has the most knowledge of all.”
In the response, prosecutors said “there is nothing insulting or controversial” about the phrase “officer of the court,” adding that “defendant’s attempt to read something into this phrase that does not exist should be rejected.”
Blakey, a former prosecutor, has spent a decade on the bench since his 2014 nomination by President Barack Obama. He also presides over the corruption case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan.
Hoover’s attorneys argue he should get a new sentencing hearing under the First Step Act, a 2018 law signed by President Donald Trump. That prompted the rare public video appearance by Hoover in Blakey’s courtroom in September.
The former gang leader has spent decades serving a life sentence in the so-called supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.
Hoover was convicted of murder after a trial in December 1973, and a judge sentenced him to 150 to 200 years in state prison. That didn’t stop Hoover from running the gang, though. U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber handed the gang leader his life sentence in 1998 following his conviction for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.
Contributing: Jon Seidel