Suspect In YouTube Beating Video Released On Home Detention
CHICAGO (CBS) – An 17-year-old Chicagoan charged as an adult in the vicious videotaped beating of a teen in a Bridgeport alley -– a crime that went viral on YouTube last month -- was released from jail Friday to await trial at home.
A Cook County judge placed Raymond Palomino on electronic home monitoring. The conditions of Palomino's release include the requirement that he continue his education, the youth's attorney, Ilia Usharovich told CBS 2's Mike Parker.
"The first thing he told me is, 'God blessed me,' and 'I've been getting right with God,'" Usharovich said of the youth's reaction.
"Everybody's happy and we have a young man who's going to live another 60, 70, 80 years of his life, and we're going to help him live a better life, instead of throwing him into hell," the attorney said.
Palomino arrived at his McKinley Park home Friday evening escorted by Cook County Sheriff's officers.
He was among several teens charged last month in the wake of a YouTube-posted video that showed several youngsters ganging up on a single victim. The 17-year-old victim was pummeled for several minutes in the Jan. 15 attack but managed to escape with minor injuries.
Most of the suspect were charged as juveniles, but Palomino was charged as an adult on charges of robbery and aggravated robbery and ordered held on $100,000 bond. His father, a Cook County deputy, would not have been able to raise bail, Usharovich said.
He said the teen told him he would obey the terms of his home confinement.
