- Brian Jackson/Sun-Times Media
- Federal prosecutors say Jason Austin should serve extra time for a double murder on the west side, though he hasn’t been convicted of it.
Two years ago Jason Austin was convicted of federal drug charges for dealing heroin and cocaine on Chicago’s west side.
But defense attorney Richard Kling blasted the U.S. attorney’s office for attempting to pin the slayings on Austin without strong enough evidence to try him for it. “This is a murder trial in sheep’s clothing,” he said.
Bor said he arrived at the crime scene within minutes and oversaw the investigation. He recounted how officers canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. Eventually, he said, they tracked down two groups of people who’d been hanging out at homes a couple blocks away at the time of the shooting.
Other witnesses revealed that they’d seen the three together in Austin’s maroon Buick Regal, or that they’d seen the car driving away from the crime scene, Bor said. Some said Austin had initially intimidated them into keeping quiet.
Kling noted that several of the witnesses later sued the city over their treatment by police and received a settlement. “Troy Davis told an assistant state’s attorney that he was called a liar and slapped on the cheek, and he believed that’s how police do their jobs and you were just doing your job. And that’s a lie?”
