For want of a clue...

Another day, another expose in the Red Star on the (alleged) cop killers Harry Jerome Evans, and Antonio Alexander Kennedy. Although copious tears made reading difficult, we struggled through the woeful, heart-rending tale in the May 11th edition of a couple neighborhood fellas who had bad things virtually thrust upon them. The article is titled "It was a long, violent road to alley in St. Paul". Trouble found them, not the other way around. To wit:

"Harry Jerome Evans, the Chicago native charged in last week's slaying of an undercover St. Paul police officer, was involved since his teenage years in drugs, theft, robbery and bursts of violence that included beating a man with a steel pipe and punching a teacher in the face"

Clearly, Mr. Evans was in the wrong place at the wrong time on several occasions. He found himself in prison in the early 1990s, whereupon we're quite certain the Innocence Project worked to free this wronged young man. There's more:

"In that case (an alleged attack against Miguel Padilla), Evans pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery for striking a man "about the head and face with a steel pipe during a robbery attempt," documents said. The Dec. 11, 1990, attack against Miguel M. Padilla occurred about noon on a street in K-Town, the West Side of Chicago neighborhood where Evans lived."

Because this matter seemd out of character for Mr. Evans, we conducted an exhaustive independent investigation, whereupon we discovered shocking and and potentially exculpatory information! Our investigators determined that it was Mr. Padilla's head that repeatedly, savagely, and viciously struck the steel pipe being carried by Mr. Padilla, not the other way around. Our case file is being forwarded to the Innocence Project for review. Thankfully, someone cares about Mr. Padilla.

There's more!

"After Evans was released from prison for the attempted murder of Padilla, he was caught with 16 Ziploc bags of crack cocaine in October 1993, according to records. One month later, while police were on a routine patrol "in a high narcotics area" in K-Town, they observed Evans carrying a black, .32-caliber pistol with three live rounds."

An observant reader might note that Mr. Evans served approximately two years in prison for the attempted murder (obviously a trumped up charge). The reason he got out so early was due to his exemplary behavior while in the "joint". He simply shunned trouble. Sure, he was caught with 16 bags of crack shortly after his release, but he was just holding them for a friend. The reason he was carrying a gun in the high crime area was to deter drug dealers from plying their trade in the neighborhood. Mr. Evans has a plausible explanation for these various events: "Its all a big mix-up". Who can argue with that?

As for Mr. Kennedy, he helpfully led police to the gun after the shooting, so can we just leave him alone please? And folks, let's cut Mr. Evans a break. He's only misunderstood, and the Red Star is trying very hard to help us understand that.