A Cook County judge has again told a Chicago police officer charged with murder that his defense team can't have access to the teenage victim's juvenile records. Judge Patricia Martin barred Officer Jason Van Dyke's attorneys from reviewing Laquan McDonald's records detailing his time as a state ward.
Van Dyke is charged with murder in McDonald's October 2014 death, which left him shot 16 times.
The files are confidential, but interested parties can have access with a judge's consent. Van Dyke's attorneys argue that he qualifies as an interested party. But Martin disagreed, saying the murder charge itself doesn't make Van Dyke "an interested party in a child abuse and neglect case."
McDonald's mother, Tina Hunter, has also objected to release of the records.
