Jury Finds Man Guilty Of Hate Crimes In Puerto Rican Flag Assault

SKOKIE, IL — A jury found a 63-year-old man guilty Wednesday of two counts of felony hate crime for an assault of a woman wearing a Puerto Rican flag shirt in a Cook County forest preserve last year.

Tim Trybus, formerly of Des Plaines, broke down in tears as the verdict was read. He faces a sentence ranging from probation to five years in prison for each of the two charges. The offenses of hate crime by assault and hate crime by disorderly conduct were both upgraded to class 3 felonies because they occurred in a public park.

Following the verdict, Cook County Circuit Judge Aleksandra Gillespie revoked Trybus' bail and he was taken into custody by sheriff's deputies. He had been on electronic monitoring since his July 2018 indictment at a home in Chicago's Norwood Park neighborhood, where he was the caretaker of an elderly Polish woman.

A jury of two men and 10 women deliberated for three and a half hours before reaching their verdict. Questions asked by the apparently all-white jury during deliberations suggest there had been some disagreement in the jury room over whether Trybus' actions constituted a hate crime. One juror sought clarification on whether the jury should convict Trybus of the lesser included charges of assault and disorderly conduct instead of the hate crime charges "if some feel strongly that hate criteria is met but others disagree."

Mia Irizarry, 25, a Chicago veterinary technician, began streaming a video of the June 14, 2018, altercation soon after Trybus began berating her at a picnic shelter she had rented in Caldwell Woods to celebrate her birthday, she testified Tuesday.

More: Jurors To Decide Fate Of Man In Puerto Rican Flag Shirt Viral Video

The encounter only became heated after she told him the flag on her shirt was a Puerto Rican flag and not a Texas flag. She said she was scared and felt like her safety was compromised during the assault. Irizarry declined to comment after the verdict.

After the video attracted national media attention last year, Irizarry held a press conference where she called Cook County Forest Preserve police officer Patrick Connor a "coward" for resigning instead of facing a disciplinary hearing over his widely criticized handling of the situation.

The video shows Connor did not intervene after Irizarry told him she felt "highly uncomfortable" and asked the officer to "please grab him."

Neither Connor nor Trybus testified at trial. The defense witness called to testify was the Cook County Forest Preserve detective tasked with re-investigating the incident after the public outcry from the video. He testified that his investigation consisted only of watching the video and speaking with prosecutors.

Attorneys for both parties addressed Irizarry's seemingly calm demeanor during the assault, with Trybus' attorney arguing that it showed she was not afraid of his client and prosecutors saying Irizarry displayed "amazing" poise and pointing to her testimony that she sought to remain composed to avoid inciting Trybus' wrath or upsetting her four-month-old puppy, Starlight.

To establish Trybus was guilty of two hate crimes, the jury agreed with prosecutors that Irizarry had a reasonable fear of receiving an imminent battery and that Trybus was behaving unreasonably in a way that would breach the peace and disturb or alarm and that he was motivated by his perception of Irizarry's race or national origin.

Assistant State's Attorney Patricia Berlinsky urged the jurors to rewatch the video of the incident during deliberations. She said it did not matter how intoxicated Trybus may have been as he "belittled, berated and bullied" Irizarry.

"This is a simple case," she said. "It's not complex. It really is as simple as it seems."

In a wide-ranging closing argument that covered topics ranging from the Wizard of Oz, the Holocaust, Colin Kaepernick and the murders of Heather Heyer at a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, and nine black members of a Charleston, South Carolina, church, defense attorney David Goldman emphasized that Trybus never said anything insulting about Puerto Rico or Puerto Ricans and that Irizarry's behavior did not suggest she was in immediate fear of being battered.

"A man who's a drunk who stands up and yells and carries on," he said. "That's not a hate crime. That's just stupid." He said the First Amendment "unfortunately" protected offensive and hateful speech.

Goldman noted that the flag shirt dispute occurred on Flag Day last year and suggested Trybus may have been motivated by strong feelings about flags rather than racism.

"He was upset that she was wearing a Puerto Rican flag on American Flag Day," the defense attorney suggested.

"Flag Day? Are you serious? Flag Day is the reason this defendant got so upset over Mia Irizarry?" Assistant State's Attorney Sharon Kanter rebutted. "That's preposterous. That's insulting. That's absurd."

Kanter acknowledged the argument that Cook County officials appeared to seek to "cover their butt" in response to public outcry over the video and the lack of felony charges.

"If people wanted to cover their butts because of what happened that day," Kanter said. "Those butts needed to be covered because there was a crime that occurred."

Trybus has previous misdemeanor convictions for domestic battery and battery from 2006. He received and completed probation. Gillespie ordered that he remain in custody until his sentencing hearing.

UPDATE: Man Sentenced In Hate Crime Over Puerto Rico Flag Shirt

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