A Cook County judge Tuesday rejected murder charges in the 2000 wedding reception brawl at a Countryside hotel, instead convicting an Oak Forest man of involuntary manslaughter in the choking death of Michael Chambers.
Prosecutors had charged Ronald Schickel Jr., 30, with murder by mob action for allegedly placing Chambers in a lethal chokehold. He had faced up to 60 years if convicted of the charge.
“I have a serious question whether or not the fact one person may have thrown a punch that precipitated a brawl constitutes mob action in the legal sense,” said Judge Stanley Sacks in granting the lesser charge for Schickel.
“The question we have is whether the state’s attorney should have charged him with murder. We contend he should not have,” said Schickel’s attorney, Terence Gillespie.
But prosecutors said they accepted the judge’s verdict and defended their charges.
“Felony murder based on mob action was in our view the charge supported by the evidence,” said Cook County State’s Atty. Richard Devine. “This was not simply one individual and another in a fight.”
Schickel’s friend, suspended Cook County Sheriff’s Officer Timothy Brogan, 27, was found guilty on all counts of official misconduct and obstruction of justice for trying to hide Schickel’s involvement in the choking death.
Both men face probation or 2 to 5 years in prison. Their sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 20.
“The prosecutors did a great job. … But nothing is going to bring Michael back,” said Cook County Comptroller John Chambers, who had publicly called for a fast but thorough investigation of the death of his brother, a Chicago Water Department foreman.
“We still have sentencing,” he said of how the verdict impacted the family.
Robert Clifford, who filed a wrongful-death suit on behalf of Chambers’ family, said Tuesday that the verdict provided them with “satisfaction that the criminal justice system gave them a result that was appropriate under the facts of this tragedy.”
Sacks also revoked bond for both men and ordered them immediately taken into custody. The move drew sobs and shrieks from their family members and friends as well as cheers and clapping from Chambers’ supporters.
“This is horrible,” said an aunt of Schickel’s who declined to give her name.
“We’re upset that he was even charged, and we’re upset that he’s still in jail,” said a friend, who also declined to identify himself.
Still, Gillespie praised the judge for ruling his client was “reckless as opposed to murderous.”
Brogan’s attorney, Larry Axelrood, said he would appeal.
An estimated 100 people were involved in the clash between two wedding parties at the hotel nearly three years ago, attorneys said at the six-day bench trial.
According to witnesses, the brawl began in the vestibule of the hotel during the early morning of Aug. 6, 2000.
Witnesses said they saw Schickel putting Chambers in a chokehold and that Brogan flashed his badge and directed responding police to handcuff Chambers before he helped sneak Schickel out the door.
Sacks said he felt the testimony was compelling in each case, but he directed much of his vitriol toward Brogan, who had worked as an officer with the Department of Corrections.
“He went from being a law-enforcement officer to a criminal to keep Ronnie Schickel Jr. out of harm’s way,” the judge said, calling his actions a “violation of the public trust.”
Gillespie said he looked forward to a sentencing hearing, so he could emphasize Schickel “has no criminal history, no problems with the law and that he’s a hard-working guy.”
Brian Tomkins, the third man charged in the case, is expected to be tried later this year on charges of aggravated battery and felony mob action.
