Facebook Live Torture Case Defendants Plead Not Guilty

CHICAGO, IL — The four defendants accused of tying up and tormenting a mentally challenged Crystal Lake man and posting videos of it on Facebook pleaded not guilty Friday, according to Steve Schmadeke of the Chicago Tribune.

Assistant public defendants entered the pleas for their clients during an arraignment hearing Friday, Feb. 10. The next court date for the defendants — Jordan Hill, 18, Tesfaye Cooper, 18, Brittany Covington, 28, and Tanishia Covington, 24 — is scheduled for March 1.

Judge William Hooks also was assigned to preside over the case, according to Rummana Hussain of the Chicago Sun-Times.

All four defendants face charges of aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Hill, Cooper and Brittany Covington also were charged with residential burglary, and Hill faces additional robbery and possession of a stolen motor vehicle charges.

The suspects are accused of binding the victim with duct tape and tormenting him for hours earlier this month in a West Side apartment. While captive, the victim also had his clothes and hair cut and was forced to walk on all fours and drink water from a toilet bowl. Shouts of "F--- Donald Trump" and "F--- white people" can be heard in the video of the incident, which originally was posted online to Facebook Live.

Last month, a judge ruled that no cameras would be allowed in the courtroom during the case's preliminary hearings after attorneys for both sides in the case objected to it. The 18-year-old victim and his family were specifically concerned with extended TV coverage proposed by CBS 2 Chicago (WBBM-TV).

Lawyers for the defendants argued cameras would jeopardize their clients' chance for a fair trial. They also cited safety concerns after a posting on the Tumblr social media platform called for the defendants to be "put up against a wall and executed painfully."

UPDATED (11:34 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10)

More Patch Coverage

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• GoFundMe Samaritan Wants Facbook Video Victim to Know Good People Are Out There
• Chicago Torture-Kidnap Case: Disgust Over Attack, Support for Victim, Cause for Conservatives
• Bail Denied in Facebook Live Torture Case: 'Where Is Your Sense of Decency?'
• Victim's Brother-in-Law Says Family Trying to Stick Together After Ordeal
• 4 Arrested in Binding, Torturing of Mentally Challenged Man: Police
• Alleged Facebook Torture-Attack Video 'Sickening,' CPD Superintendent Says
• 2nd Video Surfaces in Facebook Torture-Kidnapping Case

The four suspects — Brittany Covington (top left), Jordan Hill (top right), Tanishia Covington and Tesfaye Cooper — charged and accused of kidnapping and tormenting a mentally disabled white man. (photos via Chicago Police Department)

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