Judge yanks bond, calls man ‘real and present danger’ after disabled man killed

A man accused of concealing the murder of a 52-year-old disabled man had his bond revoked at a hearing Friday — as family members of that man and a 21-year-old South Side woman killed last year watched.

Cook County Judge John Lyke said a pre-trial assessment “hit him with a violence flag,” and determined it “more likely than not that he will commit a new crime” if released. That led Lyke to yank the $50,000 bond he’d granted Arthur Hilliard, 51, of Woodlawn, earlier in the week.

Hilliard was charged with the concealment of the murder of Andra Williams, whose body, with multiple stab wounds, was found on Sept. 1, dumped in a shopping cart in an alley behind the West Side two-flat where he rented a room.

Hilliard, who managed the building in the 700 block of South Campbell, was captured on surveillance video wheeling the shopping cart with the body in it, into the alley, Chicago police said. Hilliard has not been charged with murder in the case.

A large contingent of relatives of both Williams and Diamond Turner — found murdered and stuffed in a dumpster in a South Side alley on March 3, 2017 — expressed relief afterward.

“He should never have gotten bond,” said Williams’ father, Edward Bannister, 75, who is wheelchair-bound, as was his murdered son, from a hereditary degenerative bone disease, familial stastic paraparesisa.

“Every member of my family that you see here took off from their jobs, from school, etc., and came down here to honor Andra. So we won’t be happy until we know this man is off the streets,” he said.

Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Daniel Crone, who had outlined Hilliard’s criminal history of domestic battery and violation of an order of protection, had sought no bond. Crone indicated an indictment was coming, for which Hilliard would be arraigned Oct. 10.

Hilliard’s public defender, Margaret Domin, sought to maintain the bond, saying there was a lack of evidence against him. She said Hilliard was a high-school graduate with three children and six grandchildren who manages properties and works as a barber.

But Lyke indicated his first bond order was made without benefit of the pre-trial assessment, nor other details of the case shared by Crone, including that more than one witness identified Hilliard in the video. “This court now finds this defendant poses a real and present danger to citizens,” Lyke said.

Hilliard was originally ordered held without bail at a Sept. 5 hearing. Lyke’s original bond, ordered with electronic monitoring, could have led to his release if had posted $5,000. He remains in custody.

The Williams and Turner families had come together after learning the man the Turners believe responsible for Diamond Turner’s slaying had been again implicated in connection with a murder. Both families have demanded police step up the languishing investigation of Diamond Turner’s death.

Diamond Turner’s family said she was last seen leaving Red’s Lounge, at 69th & Stony Island, with Hilliard, who then lived across the street from them in Grand Crossing.

Hilliard has not been charged in the case. Chicago police said this week the Turner case remains “an open and active homicide investigation.” Cook County prosecutors declined to comment on either case. Hilliard’s public defender did not return phone calls after the hearing Friday.

In November, ABC7 reported that Hilliard said in a phone interview that someone else committed the murder.

Hilliard is due back in court on Oct. 5, and both the Williams and Turner families said they plan to be at every court hearing.

“We’re glad he reversed the bond. Now he won’t be able to go out and harm nobody else’s child,” said Diamond Turner’s cousin, Michelle Brantley, who was in court with Turner’s mother and others.

“We just want justice for Diamond so she can finally rest peacefully. But until then, we’re going to stand by the Williams family, to make sure they get justice.”