(NOTE: This story contains profane language.)
PEORIA, Ill. – A Peoria teenager, already in jail after he was arrested last week in connection with some recent shooting incidents, now also faces a felony charge for allegedly threatening a Peoria County Judge.
Court records indicate Taiwand Hughes faces the Class 3 felony charge of Threatening a Public Official.
Hughes was originally arrested Friday after a SWAT Team went to his home and seized a handgun and ammunition in connection with shooting incidents this month and in 2023, but faced a single charge of Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm, after prosecutors declined to file other weapons charges he was arrested on.
Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos now claims Hughes said during a jailhouse phone call following a court hearing Monday, which was recorded, that he “can’t wait to catch the judge walking out the courthouse. I’m a fire his ass up [sic]”.
The judge hearing his weapons case is Judge Mark Gilles.
“There is simply no place in our criminal justice system for threats to a judge,” said Hoos, in a news release. “A Public Official’s job is to keep people safe, and when an inmate threatens a judge for doing that, my job is to make sure that inmate stays right where he is.”
Hughes remains held in the Peoria County Jail.
All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
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