A US judge has rebuked four people accused of beating a mentally disabled man in a "racially motivated" attack and then broadcasting it on Facebook.
Cook County Circuit Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil sternly asked, "Where was your sense of decency?" before denying their lawyers' pleas to set bail so they might be released from jail.
"I find each of you a danger to yourself and society," Ciesil said, sounding baffled that the suspects who hold jobs, attend school and, in one case, care for a brother in a wheelchair could be charged with attacking the 18-year-old victim. How, she wondered, could she agree to allow people accused of such "terrible actions" to walk out of jail?
Prosecutors offered new details of the assault, explaining that one of the suspects demanded $US300 from the mother of the victim, who is schizophrenic and has attention-deficit disorder, and that the beating started in a van and continued at a house.
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A prosecutor told the judge that the suspects forced the victim to drink toilet water, kiss the floor and then allegedly stuffed a sock into his mouth and taped it shut as they bound his hands with a belt.
The four are charged with two counts of committing a hate crime - one because of the victim's race and the other because of his mental disabilities.
The beating was captured on mobile phone video by one of the assailants and has since been viewed millions of times on social media.
On the video, the male suspects use knives to cut the victim's hair and his sweatshirt with a knife. One of the females can be seen laughing. A female also laughs as she punches the victim.
One of the men pulled the cord from the victim's sweatshirt around the victim's neck and held him up while the victim was groaning in pain, according to a document read in court. The victim could be heard screaming when one of the men walked up to him with a knife and asked if he should "shank" him.
The four suspects were identified as Brittany Covington and Tesfaye Cooper, both of Chicago, and Jordan Hill, of suburban Carpentersville. All are 18. A fourth suspect was identified as Covington's 24-year-old sister, Tanishia Covington, also of Chicago.
They stood quietly as the prosecutor read the allegations. Some of their relatives listened to the allegations, including a woman who wiped tears from her eyes.
The victim's parents reported him missing Monday evening, two days after last hearing from him.
They later received text messages from people claiming to be holding their son captive, police said.
