Jeff Pettiford said it felt good to look the suspects in his family’s horrific carjacking in the eye during their detention hearing Thursday Afternoon.
Twenty-year-old Damarri Conner and 26-year-old Kenneth Merritt are both charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm and armed robbery.
The Beverly father and a large group of friends and neighbors came to the Leighton Criminal Courthouse to “let them know that somebody is going to stand up to them. “ Conner and Merritt were ordered detained as dangers to their community.
The Ring Camera video of the brazen attack in the couple’s backyard has focused national attention on the problem of violent carjackings. It has also taken a psychological toll on the Pettiford family.
“This is going to help,” Jeff Pettiford said outside the hearing. “To know that it’s impossible for those guys to come back tomorrow...I just hope they cant come back next month,” he said.
Cook County judge Charles Beach determined that the 20 and 26-year-olds were a danger to their community and ordered both detained...and to have no contact with the Pettiford family.
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“There is nothing I can do to make you comply with the laws of the State of Illinois...or common decency for that matter,” he said.
Pettiford was accompanied by 19th Ward Alderman Matt O’Shea, who said Judge Charles Beach made the right decision to detain the suspects rather than release them to await trial.
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“I don’t want to hear about bracelets and monitors and trying to find employment, these two individuals are dangerous, gun-offending felons,” O’Shea said. “We need to take them off the street.”
In court, prosecutors said the video capturing the crime was not the only one used to apprehend the suspects. They were captured on CTA cameras and city POD cameras wearing the same distinctive clothing they were allegedly wearing at the time of the carjacking.
Both Conner and Merritt were also captured on security cameras at a South side BP gas station paying to fuel up another allegedly stolen vehicle. The amount spent was exactly the same as the amount reported by Pettiford’s credit card company as a fraudulent charge.
Both Conner and Merritt have extensive criminal records including burglaries and unlawful use of a weapon. Merritt was on parole at the time and was taken into custody at his parole officer’s office
Pettiford says his family is not OK but is recovering. They are thankful the alleged offenders are behind bars...and are hoping they will stay there for a long time.
“We are the lucky ones because we can look these guys in the eye and say ‘now you have to pay for all the this terror and pain that you have caused so many people,’” he said.
