Alleged getaway driver held without bail in fatal shooting of Chicago judge
Joshua Smith. Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
Updated and corrected: Chicago police have arrested a man who allegedly drove the getaway car in a botched robbery that ended with the fatal shooting of a longtime Cook County judge.
Police arrested Joshua T. Smith, 37, the Chicago Tribune reports. Judge Raymond Myles, 66, was fatally shot in the incident outside his home early Monday, and his 52-year-old girlfriend was shot in the leg.
Chicago Chief of Detectives Melissa Staples said at a press conference Wednesday evening that the incident was a “targeted robbery” but it was not connected to Myles’ work as a judge, DNAInfo reports.
Smith was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and armed robbery. He was ordered held without bond on Thursday, report DNAInfo and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Assistant State’s Attorney Guy Lisuzzo said at the court hearing on Thursday that Smith’s accomplice had watched Myles’ girlfriend for weeks to learn her habits before attempting to rob her outside the judge’s home. The accomplice stole the woman’s gym bag but became enraged when he found no money inside, prosecutors said. Myles heard the commotion and went outside to investigate, according to previous police accounts.
Surveillance video had recorded a 2005 red Pontiac Sunfire at the scene of the slaying and had captured the license plate. The car was found on the Far South Side of Chicago. Smith has the same address as the woman who owns the car, but she is not believed to be a participant in the robbery.
Smith co-owns a car audio and alarm business and has two teenage children who live with him, his public defender said. He has a previous 2003 conviction for armed robbery.
Shell casings found outside the judge’s home matched evidence from an attempted robbery three months ago in which the victim was shot and wounded, according to police.
Myles was previously attacked in 2015 after a traffic accident in Chicago, according to this Chicago Tribune story. The other driver began punching Myles after the judge took out a cellphone and began recording the damage. Myles’ nose was broken, and he had to have reconstructive surgery to his face.
A suspect in the beating was arrested 10 months later and he was released pending trial, according to the Tribune’s March story.
Myles had been involved in several high-profile cases in his courtroom at 26th and California in Chicago. Among the suspects who appeared before him were two people accused in the 1993 Brown’s Chicken murders that took the lives of seven people, and a man charged in the slayings of three relatives of singer Jennifer Hudson.
Updated at 9 a.m. to include information from the news conference Wednesday, and again at 1:20 p.m. to include information from court appearance and additional details. Updated at 3:04 p.m. to correct headline.
