No bail reduction for man accused of disrupting jury selection

A man accused last month of disrupting jury selection for a Kane County murder trial will stay in jail for now, unless he comes up with $7,500.

Kane County Judge Karen Simpson on Tuesday denied 24-year-old Brian D. Long's request to reduce his $75,000 bail.

Long, of the 1900 block of Song Sparrow Court, Schaumburg, was arrested June 14 at the courthouse in St. Charles on allegations he had inappropriate contact with potential jurors in the murder trial of Raul Perez-Gonzalez.

The incident caused a delay in the 19-year-old Elgin man's trial, prosecutors said.

According to the charges, Long approached several would-be jurors in a public hallway, wrote their names on a piece of paper, and then made phone calls or sent text messages in an apparent attempt to intimidate them.

On Tuesday, a public defender argued that Long's bail should be reduced so he could return to his minimum wage job painting parking stripes and doing landscaping to help support his 7-month-old daughter.

But prosecutors countered that the nature of the offense, combined with Long's criminal history, warranted the larger amount.

Long, who faces a Class 4 felony count of communicating with jurors, is a suspected street gang member. Prosecutors say he was sent to prison on a weapons charge in 2008 and charged with aggravated robbery as a juvenile.

His next court date is Aug. 10. He would have to post a 10 percent cash bond to be released from jail while the case is pending.