Woman acquitted again of charges related to 2014 killing

Chicago Sun-Times

Nearly three years after 14-year-old Endia Martin became a symbol of Chicago's gun violence, a woman at the center of the street brawl that led to the teen's death walked out of a courtroom a free woman. Again.

A federal jury handed a rare loss to federal prosecutors Thursday, acquitting 35-year-old Vandetta Redwood on charges that she gave a .38 special caliber revolver to Martin's alleged killer, Redwood's cousin, who was 14 at the time. The feds said Redwood gave her cousin instructions to shoot Martin.

Jurors were not convinced. Redwood showed little reaction to the verdict when it was handed down in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve. But later, in the courthouse lobby, she broke down in tears.

Redwood was the second person to go on trial in connection with the April 2014 slaying, the result of a fight over a boy that began on social media and spilled into the 900 block of West Garfield.

Cook County prosecutors tried to use cell phone video against Redwood in the days after Martin's death, charging her with mob action and obstruction of justice. Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. quickly dismissed those charges in 2014, calling the cell phone video "choppy" and "poor."

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