A Chicago woman is taking legal action against the Cook County state’s attorney’s office for having her jailed for weeks after she failed to participate in “trial prep” against the man accused of killing her brother. 

According to the Chicago Tribune, Latoya Ware’s brother was fatally shot nearly six years ago outside a house party on the West Side. The man charged in the killing, Eric Black, was also accused of wounding Emmanuel Fleming in the July 2016 shooting.

Ware, now 20, was present when her brother was slain and common practice in the Cook County criminal justice system is for prosecutors to prep witnesses for trial testimony. Those who don’t comply are thrown in jail, as was the case with Ware. 

A fence surrounds the Cook County jail complex on April 09, 2020, in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Ware was subpoenaed to come to Leighton Criminal Court Building for trial prep on Aug. 20 last year. Per the report, the document warned: “YOUR FAILURE TO APPEAR IN RESPONSE TO THIS SUBPOENA WILL SUBJECT YOU TO PUNISHMENT FOR CONTEMPT OF THIS COURT.”

When she failed to show up as instructed, prosecutors requested that Judge Peggy Chiampas issue a no-bail warrant, which the judge did. Ware was arrested by Chicago police six months later on Feb. 22 and ordered held without bond on a charge of indirect criminal contempt. She was jailed for about three weeks before Judge Chiampas released her on electronic monitoring.

During this time, Ware received another “trial prep” subpoena from prosecutors but her legal team was successful in having it withdrawn. Ware’s original contempt charges were also dismissed.

In a March 4 hearing before Judge Chiampas, assistant public defender Douglas Stoll condemned the “trial prep” process and noted that Ware never refused to testify at the actual trial.

“You can do a subpoena to require someone to appear in court,” Stoll said. “Trial prep is a completely other matter. My client has a right to not speak to anybody about this case except when sworn to testify before this court, before a jury, or a judicial hearing.”

At the hearing, it was noted that the issuance of trial prep subpoenas is a regular practice. Chiampas said the subpoena was valid and that Ware knew the consequences of not appearing as she’d been informed of them multiple times.

“All Ms. Latoya Ware had to do was get in contact with the state, give them a heads-up. She didn’t do that,” the judge said.

On Tuesday, Ware finally testified in Black’s murder trial. She filed a federal lawsuit against the Cook County state’s attorney’s office the following day in U.S. District Court. The complaint alleges that “prosecutors have been systematically abusing the subpoena process by threatening witnesses with contempt and jail time if they fail to comply,” per the Tribune. 

Ware wants an order prohibiting “trial prep” subpoenas and/or barring the state’s attorney’s office from “effectuating arrests based on alleged noncompliance” with such subpoenas. She is also seeking monetary damages.

“(Ware) is not the only victim of the Cook County state’s attorney’s illegal practice of issuing fake subpoenas for court dates that do not exist,” the suit states, “Rather, the practice is widespread and routine and has been for many years.”

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