Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - May 11, 2005
Jeff Coen, jcoen@tribune.com
Michael L. Jackson's bail in his murder case had been reduced by Cook County Circuit Judge James Schreier last month. But while he was free, Jackson apparently tried to commit suicide with a drug overdose, officials said. He is accused of trying to attack nurse Susan McNamara during his hospital stay.
McNamara testified that Jackson became enraged and repeatedly cursed at her when he was told he could not leave Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. Then he tried to take a swing at her, she said. When that failed, Jackson, who is HIV positive, according to police reports, spit at her, she said.
"It took me a second to collect myself," McNamara said in testimony at a hearing at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building. "I was absolutely petrified."
Jackson's family and partner, John Castronova, testified on his behalf, telling Schreier that Jackson was in and out of consciousness in the hospital April 10 and did not know what he was doing. But Schreier revoked Jackson's bail, saying he found the nurse's testimony to be the most credible he had heard.
Jackson's outburst was not the involuntary action of a semi-conscious person, the judge said.
It was instead a "major temper tantrum, a conscious, explosive fit of pique," Schreier said, adding that if Jackson were again released on bail, "I have serious doubts about ever getting him to trial."
Jackson, the former communications specialist in the Chicago Public Health Department's sexually transmitted disease/HIV/AIDS division, has been charged in DuPage County with aggravated assault.
He is charged in Cook County with first-degree murder in the slaying of Haroon Paryani in February.
Authorities said the men argued over cab fare before Jackson repeatedly ran over Paryani with his cab. Jackson is to return to court in Chicago on June 10.
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