Schaumburg girl may be charged as adult

Prosecutors will ask a judge next week to move into adult court the case of a 15-year-old Schaumburg girl accused of beating her neighbor with a hammer last March.

The girl has been in custody for more than nine months on juvenile charges of attempted murder, armed robbery and aggravated battery stemming from the attack that critically injured the 58-year-old man.

Psychiatric evaluations ordered because of her behavior while in custody have occupied a large percentage of the time since her arrest.

Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Adrienne Lund said she could not comment on the timing of the transfer motions, though they've been intended since the early months of the case.

Assistant Public Defender Jim Martin said the decision whether to transfer the case will be made on a later date by a judge at the juvenile court building in Chicago.

Among the many factors taken into account in the decision are a defendant's criminal history and ability to be rehabilitated, Martin said. Assistant public defenders will argue to keep the case in juvenile court, he added.

The girl appeared briefly in court Tuesday morning. Minutes after she returned to a holding room, she began screaming and banging on the door until sheriff's deputies and her public defenders went to see her. Martin later declined to comment on the reason for the commotion.

The 15-year-old was living with her mother and older sister in an apartment building on the 100 block of Pickwick Drive when the March 29 assault occurred. She's accused of attacking her upstairs neighbor with a hammer as he was picking up his mail in the building's foyer.

The victim, Rajesh Thakkar, spent several weeks after the attack in a coma. He has lost vision in his right eye and has been in therapy to improve his speech and other physical abilities.

Another resident of the building, Fred Ludwig, was honored by Schaumburg police for interrupting the crime when he spotted a girl dragging Thakkar toward a man-made pond behind the building.

The girl's sister, 19-year-old Latifah Johnson, pleaded guilty in August to a charge of obstruction of justice for cleaning up Thakkar's blood from the crime scene before police and paramedics arrived. She was sentenced to four months in jail and two years of probation.